Who won the night? Big moments from Tuesday's primaries

Luke Skywalker · Mar 16, 2016

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[h=4]Who won the night? Big moments from Tuesday's primaries[/h]Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina held primaries on Tuesday. Here’s what happened.

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Candidates faced off Tuesday night in state primaries, including Ohio and Florida, that could have big implications for the presidential race. VPC

[h=2]Trump*wins three states, pushes*Rubio*out; Kasich wins Ohio[/h]Trump notched*wins in Illinois, North Carolina and Florida. He told supporters at his election night rally that the time has come for unity, at least in the GOP.
"The fact is we have to bring our party together," Trump said.
He said his candidacy has drawn in many people who haven't voted before.
"This was an example of it today," he said.*“It’s an incredible thing.”
His win in the Sunshine State*dealt the fatal blow*to the campaign of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio,*who announced shortly*after polls closed there that he was dropping out.*He said during the announcement that the country is in the middle of a political tsunami that “we should have seen coming.”
“People are frustrated,” he said, citing the effects of the economic recession of 2008 and the broken immigration system.
Rubio said he tried to bridge the divide in the Republican Party and the country during the past 11 months, but that it’s clear “we will not be on the winning side.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich was able to close the deal and fend off Trump in his home state.
"I'm just so appreciative of the people of Ohio," he said on CNN.
"We're going to get a lot of momentum," Kasich predicted.
[h=2]Hillary*Clinton wins Florida, Illinois, Ohio, North Carolina[/h]Tuesday shaped up*to be a great night for the former secretary of State.
At her election night rally,*Clinton congratulated Sanders for waging a “vigorous” campaign and thanked supporters for pushing her further toward the White House.
“Our campaign has earned more votes than any other candidate, Democrat or Republican,” she said.
Clinton urged supporters — and those who are not yet supporters — to help by volunteering, donating, and organizing with her campaign.
“If you’ve been waiting for the right moment, now’s the time to come join us!” she said.
[h=2]Tight races in Missouri[/h]In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, Missouri was too close to call. Trump and Clinton*clung to narrow leads as the final ballots were counted, but the margins were too close to certify winners.
[h=2]Dems mourn Marco Roboto[/h]Within minutes of Rubio announcing he was dropping out,*the party re-upped its mimicking of the senator's robotic answers during a debate before the New Hampshire primary.
Democrats actually dressed up as robots, including ones dubbed "Marco Roboto" and "Talking Point*3000,"*and taunted Rubio and his supporters in the Granite State.
USA TODAY
Twitter reacts: Sad Marco Rubio is sad

[h=2]This.[/h]From our own Jesse Yomtov:
[h=2]Cruz, who benefits most*from Rubio exit, seems to know it[/h]Morning Consult polled the Florida senator's supporters in recent days and found most will go*to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz:
Cruz was quick Tuesday to issue a statement titled, "CRUZ: I WISH MARCO, JEANETTE, AND THEIR FOUR KIDS THE VERY BEST."
He followed that up with gushing compliments at his election night rally about Rubio's extraordinary story and ability to "weave a tapestry" with words.
"To those who supported Marco, who worked so hard, we welcome you," Cruz said.*"We welcome you to join us.”
He sought to cast his own results Tuesday*as a "good night."
"Tonight was a good night, tonight we continued to gain delegates in our march toward 1,237," he said, referring to the total needed to win the GOP nomination. "And now, after tonight, American has a clear choice going forward."
USA TODAY
Male pundits: Smile, Hillary!

[h=2]Trump fights back with epic burn[/h][h=2]The Donald is big in Saipan. No, really.[/h]Republicans in the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands were the first to settle their choice Tuesday, or Monday as it were on the U.S. East Coast.
Donald Trump was the clear winner in the island chain near Guam. USA TODAY's Paul Singer has the count:

"Trump took 343 votes of the 471 total cast in the CNMI Republican caucuses, giving him about 73% of the total and all 9 delegates. Ted Cruz got 113 votes, John Kasich got 10 and Marco Rubio got 5 votes."

[h=2]Poll worker pulls gun in Cleveland[/h]Things apparently got a little out of hand at Louisa May Alcott Elementary School in Cleveland on Tuesday.
A poll worker got into an argument with another worker and whipped a .380 out of his backpack and “verbally threatened people” before fleeing the polling station, Cleveland.com reports. Police arrested him and charged him with “aggravated menacing.”
No word yet on what the argument was about.
[h=2]Anonymous hackers declare war on Trump[/h]The folks over at USA TODAY College report that the group is asking followers to shut down Trump websites because of his “appalling actions and ideas."
[h=2]Trump ‘tiny hands’ Pac is ‘dead*serious’[/h]We caught up with the guy who registered the “Trump Has Tiny Hands PAC” with the Federal Election Commission (which*changed its name Monday after an FEC warning to “Americans Against Insecure Billionaires with Tiny Hands PAC").
Henry Kraemer, who was picking up lunch from a food truck in Portland, Ore., Tuesday, said his mission is “dead serious” and says the group wants to “make sure no voter walked into the voting booth, thinking that he has regular-size hands.”
“It’s really a national security issue. Say at 3 a.m., the phone rings in the White House. The American people need to know if Mr. Trump’s tiny baby hands will be able to even grasp the receiver," he said.*"And if when he inevitably decides to launch a nuclear attack against another nation, there’s a great risk that his shrimp fingers won’t be able to push the button down all the way.”

Screenshot of political committee registration form.*(Photo: Donovan Slack, USA TODAY.)

Kraemer said he is an organizer with a nonprofit, but the PAC is unrelated to his work. He said it also was unrelated to a taunt by Marco Rubio a few weeks ago that the real estate mogul had small hands and is in no way suggestive of anatomical challenges in other, ahem, areas.
“We have no interest in any other body part of Donald Trump’s,” Kraemer said. “The issue is whether or not he’ll be able to shake another world leader’s hand without having his weak tiny fingers crushed, which would embarrass the entire country abroad for decades.”
OK, you’re kidding, right? This is performance art or something?
“This is dead serious," he said.*"It’s a fragile time for our nation and we need to make sure that the president has an adult-sized grip on the issues facing the day.”
Um, OK.
[h=2]Bill Clinton: Bernie Sanders is 'blame candidate'[/h]Campaigning for his wife in Illinois on Tuesday, the former president was asked about Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders recent surge in polling in the state.
"This should be a race for president. There is a blame candidate and a responsibility candidate in this race," he said according to NBC.*"I'm betting the responsibility candidate will win."
The race between Clinton and Sanders grew*increasingly tight in Illinois in the run-up to Tuesday's primary. Clinton was ahead 48.3%-46% on average, according to*RealClearPolitics. It turned out to be quite the squeaker.
USA TODAY
USA TODAY's 2016 Presidential Poll Tracker

[h=2]Facebookers obsessed with …[/h]The social media site tallied what people were posting and sharing in the five states voting Tuesday. Here were the top subjects:
• Florida:*Cuba
•*Illinois:*Racial issues
•*Missouri*and*North Carolina:*Religion
•*Ohio:*Education
And here are the candidates who logged the most interactions during the previous month on Facebook:
• Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton
Yep, none of the others even came close. And Trump stirred far more conversation than Clinton, unsurprisingly. This includes posts, likes, comments, and shares for the five states combined:
1. Donald Trump:*68,382,000
2. Hillary Clinton: 26,095,000
3. Bernie Sanders: 18,410,000
4. Ted Cruz: 10,678,000
5. Marco Rubio: 5,983,000
6. John Kasich: 2,753,000
[h=2]Yes, Floridians, the Donald was on the ballot[/h]Trump caused something of a stir when he tweeted about ballot issues to his 6.93 million followers.

A lot of complaints from people saying my name is not on the ballot in various places in Florida? Hope this is false.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2016

Within an hour, the Florida secretary of state had to set the record straight:
But there was some confusion. Unless Floridians registered affiliation with either the Democratic or Republican parties before Feb. 16, they were not allowed to vote in the presidential primaries, the*News-Pressin Fort Myers reports.
In Palm Beach County, Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher told the Palm Beach Post that many voters didn’t realize that. The county has 845,165 registered voters with 245,400 unaffiliated as of Tuesday. "We have dozens and they're really mad. Traditionally they haven't voted in primaries," Elections Supervisor Susan Bucher told the Post.
[h=2]Meanwhile in Washington …[/h]TWIMG
Twitter Video

President Obama, attending a St. Patrick’s Day lunch at the Capitol Tuesday, derided divisive rhetoric on the campaign trail and called for some introspection.

“It’s worth asking ourselves what each of us may have done to contribute to this kind of vicious atmosphere in our politics.*I suspect that all of us can recall some intemperate words that we regret.*Certainly, I can.*
"And while some may be more to blame than others for the current climate, all of us are responsible for reversing it.* For it is a cycle that is not an accurate reflection of America.* And it has to stop.* And I say that not because it’s a matter of ‘political correctness,’ it’s about the way that corrosive behavior can undermine our democracy, and our society, and even our economy.”

He then proposed a toast to luncheon guest Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny. Happy St. Pat’s!
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Who won the night? Big moments from Tuesday's primaries

Luke Skywalker

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