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Democratic debate in Miami: Promises and arguments over immigration

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders squared off on a debate stage for the second time this week. The Miami event came a day after Sanders’ upset win in the Michigan primary. The forum focused heavily on immigration, and both candidates sought to distance themselves from President Obama’s reputation among some advocates as “deporter in chief,” while promising a path to citizenship for some in the U.S. illegally.

The crowd rises after Sanders’ closing

Sanders addressed Wall Street and student debt in his closing statement, and for it, gets a standing ovation.

If we stand up and fight back, we can do a lot better.

What was Clinton’s reaction?

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Clinton: ‘Let’s remember three words: Bush versus Gore’

Hillary Clinton said during Wednesday’s Democratic debate that she would have two litmus tests for Supreme Court justices – support for abortion rights and opposition to unfettered campaign spending.

Any potential nominees must consider Roe vs. Wade settled law and also want to overturn the Citizens United ruling that helped unleash a new era of big money in politics, Clinton said.

Clinton also called for Republicans to consider President Obama’s nominee to fill the vacancy created by the February death of Justice Antonin Scalia. In Florida, the state at the center of 2000 presidential election recount, she recalled the Supreme Court decision on the case.

“Let’s remember three words: Bush versus Gore. A court took away a presidency. Now we’ve got the Republican Congress trying to take away the Constitution and we should not tolerate that,” she said. “So from my perspective, it is imperative we put enormous pressure on the Republicans in the Senate to do their constitutional duty.”

Clinton added that she would look for nominees who “have a heart, have life experience, understand what these decisions mean in the lives of Americans and understand the balance of power that their decisions can disrupt one way or another.”

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Both candidates agree: Restarting ties with Cuba was the right move

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders expressed support during Wednesday’s debate for President Obama’s new policy of openness with Cuba.

Obama ended half a century of frozen relations with the communist country, and he plans to visit this month, the first sitting president to go to the island in nearly 90 years. Both Democratic candidates said they hoped more exchanges would help Cuba move toward democracy.

“There are no better ambassadors for freedom, democracy and economic opportunity than Cuban Americans,” Clinton said. “The more that we can have that kind of movement back and forth, the more likely we are to be able to move Cuba toward greater freedom, greater respect for rights.”

Sanders had a similar answer.

“At the end of the day, it will be a good thing for the Cuban people,” he said.

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Clinton says Sanders’ healthcare proposal is ‘too good to be true’

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders revived a running spat on healthcare policy, with Clinton calling Sanders’ push for single-payer healthcare “too good to be true.”

Clinton tweaked Sanders for skirting questions on how the country would pay for his proposed healthcare system, in which the federal government would cover most of the costs.

“You know, my dad used to say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” Clinton said. “And we deserve answers.”

Sanders shot back that Clinton was not sufficiently dedicated to ensuring universal coverage.

“Not only are we being ripped off by the drug companies, we are spending far, far more per capita on healthcare than any other major country on Earth,” Sanders said, adding that the American people “are prepared to stand up to the insurance companies or the drug companies.”

Clinton defended her healthcare bona fides, saying she has fought for universal coverage for more than two decades.

She said as Republicans seek to appeal the Affordable Care Act, Sanders wants to “throw us into contentious debate over single-payer. I think a smart approach is build on and protect the Affordable Care Act.”

But Sanders painted a bleaker picture of the post-Obamacare healthcare landscape. He said even those who are insured face “outrageously high deductibles and copayments.” Pivoting to the high cost of prescription drugs, he said, “Elderly people are cutting their pills in half.”

“I do believe that we should do what every other major country on Earth does,” he said, adding that universal care is achievable “if the American people stand up and fight back.”

Read more about their healthcare plans.

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Everybody, it seems, has a Donald Trump impression

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The Koch brothers and their Sanders video definitely came up

Clinton harshly criticized Sanders over a video ad the Koch brothers released today praising the Vermont senator’s opposition to the Export-Import Bank, an arm of the U.S. government that helps businesses finance overseas purchases and compete with government-subsidized competitors.

Sanders bristled at the notion he might support the Koch brothers’ conservative positions.

“There is nobody in the United States Congress who has taken on the Koch brothers, who want to destroy social security, Medicare, Medicaid and virtually every federal program passed since the 1930s, more than Bernie Sanders,” he said.

Sanders added that he was proud that the head of Goldman Sachs, which has paid Clinton large checks for speeches, had labeled him dangerous. “I am dangerous – for Wall Street,” he said.

Nevertheless, Clinton excoriated Sanders for standing with the Koch brothers on the Export-Import Bank.

“They stand for things I find abhorrent, that would be bad for our country, bad for our future,” she said, noting their video said Sanders was the only Democrat who stood with Republicans in opposition to the renewal of the Export-Import Bank. The bank, she said, helped Florida businesses import goods from overseas and employ workers.

“You sided with the Koch brothers,” Clinton said to Sanders.

Sanders defended his stance, arguing that the bank has benefited large corporations.

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The Democrats are fighting an old fight on healthcare

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sparred Wednesday over how to improve the U.S. healthcare system -- by a massive overhaul that shifts the entire cost to the government, as Sanders advocates, or more moderate steps, as Clinton seeks.

“The smart approach is to build on the Affordable Care Act,” she said.

It’s a decades-old argument on the left. Here’s what you need to know about the fight:

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Hillary Clinton says she’d be different from Obama on deportations. But she sounds the same.

During Wednesday’s Democratic debate, Hillary Clinton said her deportation policies would differ from President Obama’s; immigrant advocates have dismissed him as “deporter-in-chief” for forcibly removing more immigrants than any other president.

Clinton said that unlike Obama, she would focus on deporting “violent criminals, terrorists” and others who want to do harm.

In fact, that is Obama’s policy almost verbatim.

In 2014, Obama took executive action to offer temporary protection from deportation to roughly 5 million immigrants in the country illegally with long-standing ties to the U.S. and no serious criminal records. The policy is on hold while a lawsuit accusing Obama of overstepping his power works its way through the federal court system.

When Obama originally acted, he also clarified who his administration would prioritize for deportations. Like Clinton, he said he would deport only criminals, a continuation of official Homeland Security guidelines.

Immigrant rights groups say that policy has looked very different in practice. They say immigration agents have deported hundreds of thousands of immigrants with no criminal records or only minor records, which they say has forged distrust in law enforcement by immigrant communities.

Clinton did distinguish herself from Obama in one clear way, saying she would not deport immigrant children who are already in the United States.

Obama’s administration has not offered such protections to all children, and has deported many immigrants fleeing violence in Central American who entered the U.S. in recent years seeking asylum.

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Clinton tries again to attack Sanders over auto bailout

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Clinton and Sanders distance themselves from Obama’s ‘deporter in chief’ reputation

Pressed repeatedly by debate moderator Jorge Ramos, Hillary Clinton said she would not deport children living in the country illegally.

Clinton, who has often tightly embraced President Obama’s policies, looked to differentiate herself from the sitting president, who has been criticized by some immigrant advocates as “deporter in chief.”

“My priorities are to deport violent criminals, terrorists and anyone who threatens our safety,” Clinton said. “I do not have the same policy as the current administration does.”

While pursuing a broader overhaul of the country’s immigration laws, Clinton said the nation should “stop the raids, stop the roundups, stop the deporting of people who are living here doing their lives, doing their jobs. And that’s my priority.”

After further prodding from Ramos, she stated plainly: “I would not deport children. I would not deport family members either.”

The question was prompted by an earlier interview Ramos conducted with Clinton, in which she repeatedly declined to clearly state her stance on deporting children.

Clinton said she was speaking specifically at that time about children applying for asylum, a process she said she would like to see changed to be more supportive of those fleeing violence in their home countries.

Bernie Sanders said he too would not deport children and also vowed not to deport those without legal status who do not have criminal records.

Sanders was even more explicit in distancing himself from Obama:

“I happen to agree with President Barack Obama on many, many issues,” Sanders said “He is wrong on this issue of deportation. I disagree with him on that.”

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Clinton and Sanders try to paint the other as harsher on immigration

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, debating in a state rich with Latinos voters, sparred brutally over immigration in Miami on Wednesday.

Asked about his criticism of a 2007 immigration reform bill that he said would have driven down wages for U.S. workers, Sander said that the legislation would have resulted in near-slavery conditions for guest workers.

“Where people came in, they were cheated, they were abused, and if they stood up for their rights they would have been thrown out of the country,” he said at the debate at a community college in Miami hosted by Univision and the Washington Post. “Of course that type of effort leads to a race to the bottom for all of our people.”

Clinton slashed at Sanders’ response. She said that it is improbable that those who backed the bill, including herself, would “actually support modern slavery.”

“That was one of the many excuses used not to vote for the 2007 bill,” she said. “If we had been able to get that passed, we would be so much further along than we are right now.”

Clinton also pledged to pass comprehensive immigration reform in her first 100 days as president, something President Obama also promised but failed to deliver.

Sanders countered by saying that Clinton as senator had prevailed upon New York leaders not to adopt a law to offer driver’s licenses to those in the country illegally and wanted Central American children who sought relief in the U.S. from horrific living conditions to return home. Clinton defended her stance, saying that she was worried about the peril of young children making the journey by themselves and urged legal counsel for them.

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Dual translation cuts both ways

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Everyone didn’t love the mariachi singer who sang the national anthem

A young man dressed in a mariachi outfit sang the national anthem before Wednesday’s Democratic debate in Miami, sparking a flurry of critical tweets on social media.

It’s not the first time the singer, Sebastien de la Cruz, has faced criticism. In 2013, he faced similar slights after singing during the NBA Finals.

Not all those who weighed in were critical, however:

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About that email thing

Questioned about the federal investigation into her use of private email that has dogged her presidential campaign and asked what she would do if she were indicted, Hillary Clinton was unamused during Wednesday’s debate.

Oh, for goodness -- that is not going to happen. I’m not answering that question.

A federal judge recently ruled that aides to the former secretary of State should be questioned in a separate lawsuit that alleges the private server set up in her home may have been intended to dodge federal transparency laws.

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A quick guide to debate moderator Jorge Ramos

(Scott Olson / Getty Images)

One of the moderators for Wednesday night’s debate is a star of Spanish-language media who made headlines across U.S. media last summer when he was kicked out of a Donald Trump news conference.

Here’s what you need to know about Jorge Ramos:

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Tonight’s tone set by that Michigan upset

(Seth Perlman / Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton will try to fend off an emboldened Bernie Sanders after his surprising upset in Michigan, where the insurgent senator hammered at international trade agreements that he says have cost manufacturing jobs in the industrial Midwest.

Their last debate was a heated affair, with Sanders cutting off Clinton when she tried to inject a point and repeatedly attacking her economic record. Much as Clinton’s team has tried to portray Sanders as slow to respond to civil rights concerns for black voters, he has criticized her as a late and unreliable convert to opposing trade agreements such as President Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Bill Burton, a former spokesman for Obama who supports Clinton, said he expects more sharp exchanges as Sanders tries to alter the trajectory of the primaries, in which he’s currently on track to lose the nomination despite the upset win in Michigan.

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A sign of things to come?

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John Kasich visits Chicago suburbs in bid for moderate voters

Hoping to drive up turnout among moderate Illinois Republicans who might boost his candidacy for president, Ohio Gov. John Kasich held a rally in a Chicago suburb on Wednesday, proclaiming he’d do his “level best to continue to be positive.”

In a nod to the often toxic nature of the GOP nominating contest, Kasich appealed to a town hall audience of about 500 people by noting he had not, like others, resorted to “name calling” in his bid for the White House.

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Hillary Clinton’s ongoing struggles with young people -- especially in states that matter in November

During a debate last month, Hillary Clinton offered a blunt assessment of an issue confronting her campaign: the support of young people.

“I hope that I will be able to earn their support,” said Clinton. “They may not support me now, but I support them.”

After another round of voting Tuesday, the presidential primary season so far is showing that Clinton has yet to wrest young voters from rival Bernie Sanders, and the few places where she has are deep-red states where their turnout is likely to have little effect in the general election.

While the electorate in November will differ from primary contests – higher turnout, an influx of independent voters – Clinton’s inability to make strong gains and boost enthusiasm with young voters could be a hindrance if she wins the Democratic nomination but is unable to draw young Sanders backers to the polls in a general election.

Clinton, according to exit polls from Tuesday’s primaries, bested Sanders among 17- to 29-year-olds 62% to 37% in Mississippi en route to winning the state. She also outpaced Sanders among the same age group in neighboring Alabama 52% to 40% this month. Both states, however, are deeply red in a general election.

Yet when it comes to swing states, Sanders continues to hold the edge over Clinton – often by large margins – among young voters casting ballots in Democratic primaries.

In Virginia, Clinton won the primary but Sanders nabbed 69% of voters ages 17 to 29. And in Nevada, a key Western swing state, Sanders won 82% of voters ages 17 to 29.

By contrast, Donald Trump, the front-runner for the GOP nomination, has done well with younger voters. In Virginia and Nevada, he did quite well with young people as he sailed to victories in the two states.

Eric Sondermann, a Colorado-based political analyst, notes that Clinton, if she is the nominee, must bring young Sanders supporters into the fold by November or risk having a key voting bloc sit out the election.

“There’s a risk that Trump’s celebrity could appeal to some young people,” said Sondermann, adding that it was the support of young voters and Latinos who helped Barack Obama turn out victories in Colorado -- another critical Western swing state -- in both 2008 and 2012.

“[Clinton] can’t afford to have young people sit out this cycle,” he said.

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Nothing seems to hurt Trump in GOP primaries; wider electorate looks very different

Last night, after his triumphs in more GOP primaries, Donald Trump reveled in the ineffectiveness of the attacks against him.

I don’t think I’ve ever had so many horrible, horrible things said about me in one week … but that’s OK. I want to thank the special interests and the lobbyists, because they obviously did something to drive these numbers.

— Trump in his news conference from his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla.

There’s no question that he’s right about the primaries -- nothing anyone has thrown at Trump has shaken the support of his ardent backers, who make up about four-in-10 Republican voters.

But get outside the GOP primaries and the picture looks very different. Trump’s image with the wider public is extremely negative and getting worse.

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Even in Michigan defeat, Hillary Clinton campaign sees validation of delegate strategy

The state-by-state race for the Democratic nomination is adding up for Hillary Clinton, her campaign insisted on Wednesday, despite suffering a surprising defeat in Michigan the previous night to Bernie Sanders.

“We have sought to compete everywhere, in every state, with the goal of amassing the most delegates possible,” said Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook. “Last night showed why that approach makes sense.”

Despite losing Michigan to Sanders, Clinton still picked up more delegates on the evening because of her wide margin in Mississippi.

Another big round of primaries is next week, and Mook said the campaign expected Sanders to compete heavily in Illinois, Missouri and Ohio. But Mook said Clinton should still be able to expand her delegate lead even if Sanders, the Vermont senator, performs well in those states. Florida and North Carolina also hold primaries Tuesday.

“We are confident we’re nearing the point where our delegate lead will effectively become insurmountable,” he said.

The Sanders campaign has downplayed the delegate math in conversations with reporters, with consultant Tad Devine saying that winning a primary “requires more than the skills of arithmetic.”

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Clinton continues to expand delegate lead. Here’s why

The most important number for Hillary Clinton out of Tuesday night’s primaries: 86.

That’s how many delegates she won from the day’s two contests, in Michigan and Mississippi. Her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, took 69, according to the count by the Associated Press.

So on a night when Sanders won the biggest headline -- an upset victory in Michigan -- Clinton padded her already big lead in the race to win a majority of the delegates needed to gain the presidential nomination at this summer’s Democratic convention.

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Marco Rubio’s last stand comes to Florida

Marco Rubio’s latest round of electoral losses — he failed to win any state or add delegates Tuesday — has reinforced concerns that his campaign is at a make-or-break moment.

Donors, particularly newer Team Rubio converts who crossed over from Jeb Bush’s camp, are holding onto their wallets until next week’s must-win showdown in Florida.

Some GOP donors argue Rubio should drop out before then so Republicans can coalesce around Ted Cruz and stop Donald Trump on March 15.

Rubio’s team has dismissed reports of hand-wringing — “nobody on the campaign is discussing this,” spokesman Alex Conant said — as the Florida senator stakes claim to his home state not only as his last hope, but the GOP’s best chance to stop Trump.

“It’s Florida or bust,” said Nick Iarossi, a prominent Rubio fundraiser in Miami. “We’ve already invested millions of dollars, thousands of man hours. Why get out six days before?”

The campaign all but abandoned Tuesday’s contests in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii, marshaling its manpower and resources in the Sunshine State.

The losses followed Rubio’s repeated poor showing in the early states. He has won only Minnesota and Puerto Rico, and after Tuesday, he has one-third the delegates as Trump and half as many as Cruz.

“It was always going to be a rough two weeks,” said another Rubio backer granted anonymity to discuss the situation, “but the focus was always going to be on Florida and needs to remain that way.”

Rubio trails Trump, but backers say absentee ballots are breaking for the Florida senator, who is campaigning nonstop before Tuesday.

They argue that even if Rubio dropped out, it likely would only help Trump win the state, rather than Cruz.

They doubt a loss at home would damage his brand. At 44, Rubio has often been mentioned as a possible candidate for governor at home.

Even if Rubio wins the state’s 99 delegates, he will remain far behind the front-runners.

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Sanders’ Michigan win sets up a big problem for Clinton: Ohio and Illinois

If a surprise loss to Bernie Sanders in Michigan wasn’t embarrassing enough, Hillary Clinton woke up Wednesday to a bigger problem: The Vermont senator now has a victorious strategy to utilize in two important Midwestern industrial states that vote next week.

The battle for Ohio and Illinois, both of which vote March 15, along with Florida, North Carolina and Missouri, can be expected to follow the template of Michigan. Sanders almost certainly will stress that Clinton’s 1990s views on trade, welfare and other issues have grievously harmed Americans, particularly in an area of the country troubled by vanishing manufacturing jobs.

In Michigan, his emphasis on those issues appears to have helped loosen Clinton’s hold on African American voters, particularly younger ones. At the same time, Sanders boosted his standing among the blue-collar, white voters who were Clinton’s strength in her first run for the presidency in 2008.

The Sanders win in Michigan overshadowed Clinton’s easy victory in Mississippi. Clinton emerged with more delegates than Sanders in Tuesday’s contests because of the size of her Southern win and the party’s proportional delegate allocation. But it was Michigan on which the candidates had focused resources and presence, and Michigan that defined the night in the worst of ways for Clinton.

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Cokie Roberts takes on Donald Trump: ‘What about the children, Mr. Trump?’

On MSNBC Wednesday morning, Donald Trump had an unusually pointed debate with journalist Cokie Roberts, who pressed him on the effect his heated rhetoric about immigrants and Muslims is having on America’s children.

Though Trump is often asked about his potential for sewing xenophobic attitudes, he is rarely pushed as hard as Roberts challenged him.

Roberts cited news reports that children were taunting classmates with darker skin, telling them they’d be deported under President Trump, and that other kids were holding up signs during youth basketball games saying they’d build a wall to keep out Latino players on opposing teams.

“Are you proud of that?” asked Roberts, who was acting as a contributor on the cable outlet’s “Morning Joe” program.

Trump, speaking by phone as he often does, sounded taken aback.

“Your question’s a very nasty question,” he said. “And I’m not proud of it because I didn’t even hear of it. And I certainly do not like it at all when I hear about it.”

Roberts, her eyebrows furrowing, did not back down: “It’s been reported in many newspapers.”

Trump kept talking over Roberts, repeating his “make America great again” campaign slogan and several elements of his message, including a promise to bring jobs back to the country.

Roberts would not let him change the subject. “When you talk about deporting people and you talk about building a wall and you talk about banning Muslims, doesn’t that have an effect on children,” she asked.

Trump said his comments were not aimed at all immigrants, but only “deporting people that are here illegally. …We either have a country or we don’t.”

He added that his stump speech often includes language about a “big beautiful door in the wall” to continue legal immigration.

“What about the children, Mr. Trump? What about what the children are hearing from you and how they are responding to it?”

The two went back and forth several more times before host Joe Scarborough bailed Trump out.

“We’re being told you’ve got to go to a follow-up interview,” Scarborough said, before asking Trump a final question about how well he thought he could do in the next set of primaries.

Then he thanked him for coming on the show and “allowing us to ask questions and not being afraid as most candidates are.”

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Carly Fiorina backs Ted Cruz as best to take on Donald Trump

Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief who unsuccessfully ran for president, on Wednesday endorsed Sen. Ted Cruz as the GOP’s best hope of defeating front-runner Donald Trump.

“It is time to take our party back,” Fiorina said as she introduced Cruz at a rally in Miami. “It is time to take our government back. It is time to unite behind the one man who can beat Donald Trump.”

Fiorina said she was “horrified” at the prospect of Trump being the GOP nominee, and said he is akin to Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Cruz, she added, has had the greatest success in beating Trump in the primaries.

Trump has won 15 contests; Cruz has won seven. Sen. Marco Rubio has won two.

Fiorina, who also unsuccessfully ran for a U.S. Senate seat in California in 2010, dropped out of the presidential race in February after placing seventh in the New Hampshire primary.

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Carly Fiorina backs Ted Cruz in GOP race

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Florida ad wars heat up in advance of next week’s GOP primary

With the crucial Florida primary less than a week away, the Republican presidential contest is now a constant fixture on the state’s airwaves.

Viewers of the morning news shows on the three main broadcast networks were served up a steady diet of attack ads and gauzy positive commercials Wednesday. Between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m., at least a dozen ads related to the 2016 GOP race aired, largely paid for by outside groups.

The top target: front-runner Donald Trump, who has topped recent polls in advance of next Tuesday’s contest.

Our Principles PAC, an outside group funded by some of the GOP’s wealthiest donors, is airing an ad criticizing the billionaire for “scamming” students at his Trump University real estate course.

“Donald Trump belongs in 3 a.m. infomercials,” a narrator says, “not here” as a picture of the White House flashes in the background.

A second outside group, the American Future Fund, is also denouncing Trump University on air.

And Club for Growth, a prominent conservative group, mocked Trump’s tough talk on trade, and said the businessman really takes on “workers and widows.”

Trump’s campaign is answering back with an ad of its own, which slams rival Sen. Marco Rubio as a “corrupt, all-talk, no-action politician.”

Meanwhile, a super PAC supporting Rubio is looking to aid the senator in advance of the make-or-break vote in his home state, airing a pair of positive spots highlighting his biographical background.

The group, Conservative Solutions, reported to the Federal Election Commission that it spent $5 million for its most recent ad buy.

In addition to boosting Rubio, the group has also paid for ads blasting John Kasich. The commercial, which tells viewers “the basics on Kasich,” pummels the Ohio governor, saying he has been raising taxes on everything from laundry to home repairs.”more spending, more taxes.”

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Bernie Sanders’ campaign sues Ohio’s secretary of state

Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign accused Ohio’s secretary of state of attempting to block young voters from participating in the March 15 primary, and filed a lawsuit in protest Tuesday.

The federal suit lists six Ohio 17-year-olds and Sanders’ campaign group as plaintiffs against Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted.

“It is an outrage that the secretary of state in Ohio is going out of his way to keep young people -- significantly African-American young people, Latino young people -– from participating,” Sanders said on his campaign website.

With Sanders fighting for the youth vote in the Democratic race, losing that demographic may affect his performance in the upcoming Ohio primary.

At issue is whether young people who will turn 18 before the general election may vote for presidential candidates in the Ohio primary. Husted revised the state’s election manual in December and ruled those in that age group are ineligible.

Husted said the law is clear on voter eligibility. He said that 17-year-olds can vote in the primary election if they will turn 18 before the general election, but not on all issues, including selecting delegates for the presidential nominees.

“They are not permitted to elect candidates, which is what voters are doing in a primary when they elect delegates to represent them at their political party’s national convention,” Husted said in a statement on his website.

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Donald Trump: People ‘don’t want’ Hillary Clinton

Donald Trump thinks Hillary Clinton will win the Democratic nomination, which he said bodes well for him in the general election.

He said on CNN’s “New Day” Wednesday that her loss to Democratic rival Bernie Sanders in Michigan underscored her weakness: “[L]osing Michigan is more than a bump in the general [election] because it says the people don’t want her.”

The Republican front-runner capitalized on his momentum from winning three of four GOP primaries Tuesday and asserted that if the party unified behind him, it could win in the November presidential election.

He pointed to the strong voter turnout for Republicans so far, which he said suggests they are more motivated than Democrats. And he accused 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney of lying about him during a controversial speech Romney gave in Utah last week.

“We have to recover as a party, though, this tremendous positive energy in this party,” he said in another response to Romney’s statements on NBC’s “Today.”

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Surging Puerto Rican population is remaking the country’s biggest swing state

Rafael Rivera left Puerto Rico for central Florida late last year, fed up with the island’s escalating debt crisis and dwindling sales at his cellphone shop.

Five months later, Rivera, 36, has a nice apartment in the Orlando suburb of Kissimmee and a job at a nearby Hyundai dealership. He’s also registered to vote.

Rivera is a part of a wave of Puerto Ricans fleeing the island’s beleaguered economy and transforming the Florida electorate. Each week, as many as 1,000 Puerto Ricans arrive in central Florida, according to some estimates, joining a community of more than 1 million Puerto Ricans across the state that has grown tenfold since 1980.

Like Rivera — and unlike many other new Latino migrants — they are all U.S. citizens and immediately eligible to register to vote.

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Sanders wins Michigan in an upset; Clinton takes Mississippi

Hillary Clinton campaigns in Detroit on Monday.
(Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press)

Bernie Sanders muscled his way to an upset victory Tuesday in Michigan, establishing the Rust Belt as a beachhead for the resurgence of his campaign and dragging Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton back into a race in which she must focus her energy on what now threatens to be a prolonged primary battle.

His victory, even though it was narrow, overshadowed a decisive win for Clinton in Mississippi. Clinton’s victory there meant that she extended her already formidable lead in the race to win a majority of the delegates to the Democratic convention this summer.

Nonetheless, it was the Michigan result that played an outsized role in determining whether the front-runner could shift her campaign into general-election mode.

The state posed a crucial test for both candidates. Clinton, who had led in the preelection polls, had hoped to show that her winning coalition of voters extended beyond the South and into the Rust Belt. Instead, she fell short.

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Takeaways from Michigan: Questions loom for Hillary Clinton and Marco Rubio

Tuesday’s primaries in Michigan and Mississippi – and additional Republican contests in Idaho and Hawaii – further clarified the GOP side of the presidential race and posed new questions for Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

The results also intensify pressure on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Here are five take-aways.

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