The results are what most ofthe pundits expected, although whether this truly was the inevitable result, or a self-fulfilling prophecy by a media that controls the dialogue and much of the thinking of the general public is less certain.
Still, Hillary Clinton won big in the Deep South, and won the majority of primaries contested for Super Tuesday.
However, Bernie Sanders did score some wins. He won in his home state of Vermont, as expected. He also got victories in Oklahoma, Colorado, and Minnesota, although not by as wide of a margin as he would have needed to more or less keep pace with Clinton, or at least really keep the heat on her.
Sanders is vowing to continue the race, which is a good thing. At the very least, get the mediocre Clinton to realize that her very pro-establishment, pro-wealthy, pro-corporate stance is simply not good enough. She won, but mostly because people seemed so fearful of actually going ahead with someone who meant actively pursuing more serious and meaningful change. It certainly did not feel like people were so inspired by Hillary Clinton, that they feel she will solidly move the country in a new direction. Rather, it feels like she is the de facto candidate that the Democrats settled for, since there were no clear other prominent Democrats that came up as favorites in this race. Sanders was fighting an uphill battle, and still nonetheless challenged Hillary quite strongly. For her own good, Clinton and her supporters might want to recognize that this means that she is a candidate with vulnerabilities, if not outright a weak major candidate, and that this could come back to haunt her later, assuming she does come out on top here.
As for the Republicans, Donald Trump had a big, historical night that, in effect, should place him as the de facto nominee, unless something really changes radically in the near future.
Ted Cruz came up with some wins, including he biggest prize. Yes, he won his home state of Texas, which was easily the biggest state up for grabs on Super Tuesday. He also managed to win Oklahoma and, for now, remains the only Republican candidate to have defeated Trump by taking states. He now has three overall, including the Iowa caucus last month. In his speech, he claimed a certain measure of victory, repeating the claim that he is the only one to have handed Trump a loss, although that is no longer true anymore, as Rubio finally broke through for a win in one state.
One wonders where Marco Rubio will go from here. He has vowed to fight on, and in two weeks, he wants to win his home state of Florida. The good news for him is that he finally actually won a state, winning in Minnesota. Still, he trails both Trump and Cruz by considerable margins now, and was forced to embrace the underdog status after results came in on Super Tuesday.
It should be interesting to see what happens next over the next few weeks.
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