At the Washington Post, "Trump owns Super Tuesday, but Cruz and Rubio see glimmers of hope":
Donald Trump rode a powerful tide of voter fury to victories across the country on Tuesday, ending the campaign season’s most momentous day of balloting as the unrivaled favorite for the Republican presidential nomination.More.
The billionaire mogul’s Super Tuesday rout extended from New England to the Deep South, but he resoundingly lost the night’s crown jewel, Texas, to home-state Sen. Ted Cruz, who also defeated Trump in Oklahoma.
Tuesday’s results exposed some vulnerabilities for Trump: He lost late-deciding voters in many states by wide margins to rival Marco Rubio, a sign that the senator from Florida may have had some impact with his withering assault on Trump’s character. Ohio Gov. John Kasich also came close to beating Trump in Vermont.
In Virginia — one of the biggest of the 11 states holding primaries or caucuses and a critical general-election battleground — Trump’s win was also narrower than the latest polls had indicated. Rubio nearly pulled off an upset, though his boost from more highly educated voters in the suburbs of Northern Virginia and Richmond was not enough to offset Trump’s command of Southwest Virginia and rural areas.
Cruz’s twin victories breathed new life into his beleaguered campaign after a string of defeats forced him to mount an impassioned last stand in Texas. Meanwhile, Rubio won Minnesota’s caucuses, giving him his first victory of the campaign.
Still, Trump was dominant. On top of Virginia, he won decisively in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts and Tennessee. With each victory, he solidified a robust and ideologically diverse coalition of working- and middle-class Americans behind his rebellious call to overthrow the nation’s political order.
Trump claimed victory by holding a news conference in the opulent gold-and-white ballroom at Mar-a-Lago, the lavish wonderland he owns in tony Palm Beach, Fla.
Speaking in uncharacteristically measured tones beneath giant crystal chandeliers, Trump tried to assume the mantle of presumptive nominee. He sought to convince party insiders that he could win a general election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, labeling himself as a “common-sense conservative” and portraying her as a relic of Washington...
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