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Election night updates: Donald Trump wins Hawaii at end of strong night, Bernie Sanders upsets Hillary Clinton in Michigan

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Another round of primaries Tuesday night:

  • Bernie Sanders scores a narrow upset over Hillary Clinton in a surprisingly close Michigan primary
  • Clinton and Donald Trump win Mississippi’s primaries
  • Trump is declared the winner in Michigan too. Ted Cruz prevails in Idaho
  • See the delegates and results here

Trump gets third victory of the night with Hawaii win

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Trump holding strong lead in Hawaii

With half of precincts reporting results from the Hawaii caucuses, Donald Trump is in the lead with 45% of the vote.

Sen. Ted Cruz is in second place, while Sen. Marco Rubio trails in third.

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Ted Cruz wins Idaho primary as he seeks to emerge as chief alternative to Donald Trump

Ted Cruz won the Idaho Republican primary on Tuesday, a victory that strengthens the Texas senator’s effort to emerge as the sole viable alternative to Donald Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

The Idaho loss indicated that Trump’s domination of the campaign was beginning to ebb just as the New York billionaire is trying to establish himself as the presumptive Republican nominee amid a new onslaught of attacks from rivals and major party donors. Trump won the night’s biggest delegate prizes, Michigan and Mississippi.

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Some Michigan context

Sen. Bernie Sanders captured at least 543,000 votes Tuesday night in his Michigan victory — a huge sum more than Hillary Clinton won there in 2008 under very different circumstances.

Eight years ago, Michigan party officials bucked the Democratic National Committee and held an early primary in a violation of the rules protecting the first-in-the-nation status of Iowa, New Hampshire and a few others.

Candidates skipped campaigning in Michigan and Florida, which also broke the rules.

On Jan. 15, 2008, Clinton “won” 55.2% of the vote with 328,309 people punching ballots for the then-senator. Barack Obama’s name didn’t even appear on the Michigan ballot. (The runner-up was “uncommitted” with 40% and then-Rep. Dennis Kucinich with 3.7%.)

Clinton won all but three counties — though she lost the one that’s home to the University of Michigan to “uncommitted.”

On Tuesday night, Clinton also lost that county, this time to Sanders, but she bested her rival in at least five others.

If you check out our handy delegate tracker, you’ll see Sanders looks to net about 10 more delegates from his Michigan win. And unlike 2008, these delegates actually count in the overall race for the nomination.

That year, it was only after a protracted — and ugly — fight both publicly and behind the scenes that the Democratic National Committee ultimately compromised and let some of the delegates stand.

It didn’t matter in the end, of course, because Clinton sent her supporters to Obama in a “unity” moment at the convention in Denver.

We’re a long way from a moment like that, but Michigan voters who showed up in big numbers clearly wanted to have their say Tuesday.

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Bernie Sanders celebrates surprise victory in Michigan

(Alan Diaz / Los Angeles Times)

Bernie Sanders touted a “critically important night” in Michigan after pulling off an unexpected win Tuesday in a state where he trailed by double digits in the polls.

“I am grateful to the people of Michigan for defying the pundits and pollsters and giving us their support,” he said in a statement. “We’re seeing the same kind of come-from-behind momentum all across America.”

Sanders highlighted his campaign’s success in areas around the country, an implicit contrast with rival Hillary Clinton, whose primary victories have come largely in the South.

“We already have won in the Midwest, New England and the Great Plains and as more people get to know more about who we are and what our views are we’re going to do very well,” he said.

But the fight for the Democratic nomination is a proportional one -- and Clinton’s overwhelming win Tuesday in Mississippi ensures she will come out of the night with an even bigger lead than she started the day.

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Bernie Sanders scores upset in closely fought Michigan Democratic primary

People vote in Warren, Mich., in the state's presidential primary.
(Geoff Robins / AFP-Getty Images)

Bernie Sanders won an upset victory over Hillary Clinton on Tuesday in the surprisingly close Democratic primary in Michigan, a state where he invested heavily and that his advisors called a “critical showdown.” Polls had shown Clinton with a double-digit lead in the state.

Sanders’ margin of victory will help determine how much the win will boost his campaign. He trails Clinton in total delegates needed to secure the nomination, and he needs to start scoring large wins to chip away at her lead.

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Donald Trump uses Trump steaks, Trump wine and Trump water to defend his business record

It was the election season’s first Donald Trump news conference featuring slabs of meat and bottles of wine.

The Republican presidential front-runner flaunted Trump steak, Trump wine and other Trump products in a sarcastic response to attacks on his business ventures by Mitt Romney and other critics.

“If you want to take one, we’ll charge you about 50 bucks a steak,” Trump joked to reporters, gesturing to a pile of raw beef on display near his lectern at Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Fla.

Trump’s 40-minute encounter with the news media came on the evening he won the Michigan and Mississippi primaries.

Taking advantage of his live prime-time cable TV time, Trump took his usual swipes at rivals Marco Rubio (“little Marco”) and Ted Cruz (“lyin’ Ted”).

But he devoted much of the time to defending himself against an onslaught of new television ads by Republican establishment groups aiming to tarnish his business record.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had so many horrible, horrible things said about me in one week — $38 million worth of horrible lies, but that’s OK,” he said. “It shows you how brilliant the public is, because they knew they were lies.”

It was the third time in a week that Trump shunned the customary election-night victory party, taking questions instead in Trump Florida resort settings in an apparent attempt to evoke a presidential news conference. Florida’s winner-take-all primary takes place next Tuesday.

Trump’s culinary props were mainly a rebuttal to Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee who ridiculed a variety of Trump businesses in a speech last week in Utah.

Showing off bottles of Trump water, the candidate said it was a small private company that supplied water to his properties nationwide. He held up a copy of his namesake magazine. And he denied that Trump Airlines went under, saying he sold it as part of a complicated transaction.

“I made a phenomenal deal,” he said.

As for Romney’s presentation in Utah, Trump said, “It wasn’t becoming, honestly.”

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Marco Rubio’s losses mount as he banks his campaign on winning Florida

Not only was Marco Rubio failing to win any nominating contests Tuesday, but he may close out the night without adding many -- or any -- delegates to his tally.

Rubio’s campaign all but abandoned Tuesday’s contests as it is laser-focused on his must-win home state of Florida next week.

But his winning-by-losing strategy was likely to leave him below the 15% threshold needed to qualify for delegates Tuesday in Mississippi or Michigan.

Rubio is spending almost every day until March 15 in the Sunshine State, where he promises to sweep its winner-take-all primary to give new momentum to his fading campaign.

His once-promising candidacy has sputtered as the campaign has been unable to expand its appeal beyond young, white-collar suburban families. Rubio has won just two contests -- in Minnesota and Puerto Rico.

And he also spent Tuesday swatting back a report that he would drop out before Florida’s primary March 15, rather than risk losing -- dismissing it as “patently false.”

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Bernie Sanders thanks Michigan voters amid tight race

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John Kasich strikes positive tone as GOP race heads to Ohio

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has said that his presidential campaign hangs on a victory in his home state next week, struck an optimistic tone on Tuesday despite a loss in neighboring Michigan to front-runner Donald Trump.

“We’re all familiar with March Madness,” Kasich, alluding to the NCAA basketball tournament, told supporters at an election night party in Columbus, Ohio. “And now, the home-court advantage is coming north, and next week we are going to win the state of Ohio.”

Kasich, who has yet to secure a victory this primary season, made a play for Michigan in recent weeks, while Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida focused on states in the South and West.

Kasich said Tuesday that his campaign has “struggled and worked in obscurity,” but now he’s best positioned to win his state’s 66 delegates in its winner-take-all contest March 15.

“I landed in Cleveland today, and I got down on my hands and knees and almost kissed the ground to be back in the state of Ohio,” he said in brief remarks at the Renaissance Hotel in Columbus. “I’m going to continue to run a positive campaign and not get down in the gutter and throw mud at anyone.”

In Ohio, the few polls that have been conducted show Kasich within striking distance of Trump.

“In Ohio, we’re determined, we’re special,” Kasich said. “We will send a message not just to the country, but we’re going to send a message to the world that positive ideas, coupled with vision and accomplishment … will work to rescue this country.”

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Michigan remains too close to call for Democrats

It’s a nail-biter in Michigan for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

Polls ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary in the state showed Clinton with a double-digit lead, but with a little more than half of the state’s precincts reporting, Sanders led slightly.

It’s still an open question who will win the state, which has been viewed as a key battleground. Results were still pouring in from Detroit and Wayne County, the most populous area of the state, where the numbers were trending in Clinton’s favor.

In addition, less than one-third of the precincts in Genesee County, home to Flint and an area where Clinton has focused her attention, have been tallied.

A victory in Michigan, no matter how narrow, could be a major boost for Sanders, who has trailed Clinton. But it may not significantly lower the hurdle Sanders faces to secure enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination -- unless the Vermont senator starts racking up big victories, Clinton will continue to maintain her lead.

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John Kasich celebrates what he hopes will be a solid performance in Michigan

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Hillary Clinton looks ahead to November despite tight race in Michigan primary

With results still being counted in hotly contested Michigan, Hillary Clinton took the stage in Cleveland and kept her focus on fighting Republicans in the general election.

“Running for president shouldn’t be about delivering insults,” she said in a nod to sniping rhetoric flying in the GOP race in recent days. “It should be about delivering results for the American people.”

She added, “We are better than what we’ve been offered by the Republicans.”

Clinton has faced criticism from her rival for the Democratic nomination, Bernie Sanders, for supporting trade policies that allowed jobs to move overseas, and she took a hard line against the practice in her speech.

“We’re going to stand up to corporations that seem to have absolutely no loyalty to this country that gave them so much in the first place,” she said. “If they walk out on America, they’re going to pay a price.”

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Trump wins Michigan, but voters have their misgivings

Exit polls in Michigan point to a developing three-person GOP contest -- one that doesn’t include Marco Rubio.

Donald Trump, projected to carry the state overall, was the choice of Republican primary voters who described themselves as “somewhat conservative” -- a bloc that made up just shy of half the overall vote.

Ted Cruz won 4 in 10 voters who identified as “very conservative.” And John Kasich, on track for perhaps his best showing of the GOP race, was running neck-and-neck with Trump among voters calling themselves moderate.

Again, voters who decided late broke against Trump, as in earlier contests -- this time Kasich won among voters who decided in the last week. But Trump won half of voters who decided earlier than that, accounting for his overall victory.

Despite Trump’s victory there were indications of broader unease in the party about his candidacy. Half of all voters said they would be dissatisfied if he won the nomination, and were likewise split on the question of whether Trump was honest and trustworthy. Even “Lyin’ Ted,” as Trump calls the Texas senator, scored better on that question.

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Donald Trump sweeps evangelical voters

Conservative Christians, over and over again, are voting for Donald Trump.

Despite an organized attempt by religious leaders to stop Trump, he won evangelicals in Mississippi on Tuesday, as he did earlier in South Carolina and other Southern states, according to exit polls.

Partly contributing to Trump’s success has been the divide among religious leaders. Many top conservative evangelical leaders agreed to coalesce around Ted Cruz; others, namely Jerry Falwell Jr., are supporting Trump.

Even more, faith voters who are casting ballots for the billionaire, say having a candidate who shares their religious beliefs matters “not much or not at all,” according to the polls.

They appear not to mind Trump’s coarse language, divorces and bankruptcies, which are all discouraged among conservative Christians.

Among those in Mississippi who wanted the candidate to share their values, they split between Trump and Cruz.

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Donald Trump wins Michigan primary

Donald Trump won the Michigan GOP primary on Tuesday, another key victory in the New York billionaire’s effort to win the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump’s first win in the upper Midwest came as his rivals struggled to undercut him in the region before the crucial Ohio and Illinois primaries next week.

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Donald Trump and Paul Ryan have a chat

He could not have been nicer.... He was very encouraging.

— Donald Trump, on his phone call with House Speaker Paul D. Ryan

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Donald Trump makes a point of thanking establishment GOP

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At Miami rally, Bernie Sanders’ supporters know his stump speech better than he does

Like any good politician, Bernie Sanders has a knack for coining catchphrases.

His promise to lead a “political revolution” challenging “the billionaire class” has drawn the support of millions and helped catapult his long-shot campaign to legitimacy.

At a rally in Miami on Tuesday night, as the results rolled in from the Democratic primaries in Michigan and Mississippi, an enthusiastic crowd appeared to know Sanders’ campaign slogans as well -- if not better -- than he did.

The crowd interrupted his stump speech several times, finishing some lines before he even arrived at them.

When Sanders began to ask whether anyone knew the average contribution to his presidential campaign, the crowd shouted: “Twenty-seven dollars!”

“This is a sharp audience,” Sanders said. “You’re about 12 seconds ahead of me.”

As Sanders spoke, results came in showing that rival Hillary Clinton won Mississippi’s Democratic primary, extending her streak of strong performances among African American voters in Southern states.

Sanders -- and his supporters -- didn’t mention the loss.

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Donald Trump wins Mississippi GOP primary, solidifying his hold on the race

Donald Trump won Mississippi’s Republican primary on Tuesday, extending his hold over the Deep South and advancing his march toward the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump’s victory in Mississippi came as Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has struggled to overtake him in Bible Belt states where evangelical Christians dominate GOP primaries.

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Trump demonstrates broad appeal in Mississippi, wins ‘angry’ vote, exit polls show

Donald Trump again demonstrated appeal regardless of age, income level and education level, exit polls in Mississippi’s Republican primary showed Tuesday.

The real estate mogul performed best among voters with only a high school degree or less, winning more than half the vote compared with just more than a third for Ted Cruz. Among voters with postgraduate degrees the result was closer, but still Trump led with 4 out of 10 voters, compared to about 1 in 4 for Cruz and 1 in 5 for John Kasich.

There appeared to be a late shift in voter sentiment in the race’s final days in Mississippi, a trend that also occurred in Super Tuesday states a week earlier. Among the one-third of voters who said they decided whom to vote for in just the last week, more than 4 in 10 backed Cruz, while a quarter backed Trump. Trump, though, won more than half of the vote among voters who decided earlier.

About a third of Republican voters said the quality they looked for most in a candidate was the ability to bring change, while 3 in 10 said they wanted someone who shared their values and 1 in 5 said someone who tells it like it is. Trump was the top choice in two of those three categories – winning half of voters who wanted a candidate who can bring change and a whopping 8 of 10 of voters who want a candidate who tells it like it is.

Notably, Trump narrowly edged Cruz among voters who identified as born-again or evangelical, a demographic that was thought to be a core source of support for the Texas senator across the Deep South.

More broadly, 9 in 10 voters described themselves as angry or dissatisfied with the federal government. Trump won nearly 3 of 5 voters who considered themselves angry.

Four of five Mississippi Republican primary voters said they were very worried about the U.S. economy, and half of all voters said Trump would best handle the issue.

Voters were split about whether illegal immigrants working in the U.S. should be deported to their home countries or offered legal status. Three-quarters of voters said they supported a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S., a policy Trump first proposed in the wake of the San Bernardino attacks.

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Hillary Clinton wins Mississippi primary, notching another victory in the South

(Charlie Neibergall / Associated Press)

Hillary Clinton won Mississippi’s Democratic presidential primary Tuesday, according to projections, extending her streak of strong performances in Southern states, where she’s enjoyed wide support from black voters.

Polls were still open in some parts of Michigan, the night’s biggest delegate prize.

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Mississippi’s team of rivals for Ted Cruz -- and against Donald Trump

Talk about GOP unity.

In Mississippi, Ted Cruz has drawn an unlikely coalition to support his campaign -- and to try to stop Donald Trump.

Early on, Cruz secured as his state co-chairman Chris McDaniel, the tea party darling, who just two years ago shocked the establishment with his challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran, the state’s veteran lawmaker.

Cochran emerged from that brutal battle to win another term, thanks in part to backing from the GOP establishment, including popular Gov. Phil Bryant.

On Monday, as Republicans nationally have increased their worries about Trump’s rise, Bryant announced his support for Cruz.

“It’s time for Republicans to join together and unite the party for the good of our state and our nation,” Bryant said.

Tuesday’s election in the key Southern state could prove pivotal in Trump’s continued rise -- or not.

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Full results from tonight’s contests

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GOP senators test their comfort level with Ted Cruz

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Trump steaks make appearance at campaign event

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An unexpected city feels the Bern

Ann Arbor, of course. But Grosse Point Woods?

This close-in suburb of Detroit does not fit the profile of a Bernie Sanders stronghold. It’s a place that screams moderation. The racially and economically diverse city was once heavily Republican but lately has shifted toward the middle politically.

Yet Bernmentum was in the air as voters streamed to the City Hall polling place there during the morning rush hour.

“I feel like I trust him,” said Karlyta Williams, a 34-year-old development coordinator for a nonprofit. “He is very level-headed, and I like that. I don’t need a lot of emotion out of my candidates.” Williams said she worries about how she is going to afford to send her 11-year-old to college. Sanders’ plan to have government cover the cost is a big draw.

“I know it’s a long shot,” said Sandra Spina, a 33-year-old taking time off work to care for a young child. “I like that he fights the big industries.”

Another voter, Diane Skibinski, put it more succinctly: “We need change,” said the 50-year-old property manager. Another voter, who gave only her first name, Liz, was even more succinct: “Revolution, man.”

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Did the Sanders attacks on Bill Clinton’s White House backfire?

As Bernie Sanders seeks to lure Michigan Democrats away from Hillary Clinton in the state’s primary election, he has put a lot of effort into calling out some of the centrist policies she supported back when her husband was president. Welfare reform, the crime bill of 1994, and the North American Free Trade Agreement were all under attack in the race.

But interviews with some voters suggest that the attacks were risky. The problem: Michigan Democrats remain very fond of Bill Clinton and the economic growth that took place under his watch. Several said Hillary Clinton’s connection to him is a big reason they will vote for her.

“I like Hillary, Bill, Chelsea, and Charlotte. I love them all, “ said Barbara Mason, 71, a letter carrier in Southfield. She was among several voters interviewed who expressed puzzlement at the Sanders strategy.

“As a first-generation immigrant, all the things I acquired in this country were because of the good administration of Bill Clinton,” said Cyril Tony Nwagurul, who moved to Farmington Hills from Nigeria. “I have some sympathy for Bernie, but when he starts talking about Obama and Bill Clinton, it is like a house divided against itself, and I don’t like it.”

Outside a Hillary Clinton rally at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on Monday night, hip-hop producer Jerry Flynn Dale said he would be voting for Hillary Clinton precisely because of the things Bill Clinton accomplished. “It did not work,” he said of the Sanders attack. “It backfired. I mean, to say that here?”

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Michigan poses a test for John Kasich’s presidential campaign

He’s a Midwest governor who says his presidential campaign hangs on a victory in his home state next week.

But for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who has yet to secure a victory this primary season, Michigan’s GOP contest Tuesday could provide a litmus test.

Although he’s confronted with an uphill battle against Republican front-runner Donald Trump, polls ahead of the primary showed Kasich in second in Michigan. That kind of finish, in a Rust Belt state with a Republican electorate similar to his home state, could help Kasich going into Ohio’s primary March 15.

Exit polls from the states’ 2012 Republican primaries show electorates that were primarily made up of blue-collar white men. Those exit polls also reveal that voters in those primaries were more moderate overall and less concerned about social issues and more about the economy than voters in the Deep South.

Kasich has vowed to stay in the presidential race until Ohio -- a winner-take-all state that will allot 66 delegates -- casts ballots, and Terry Casey, a Republican strategist from the Buckeye State, said Tuesday’s contest in neighboring Michigan is critical for the governor.

“Finish a close second and you’re off to the races here in Ohio,” Casey said. “Fall back to third or fourth, then it’s tough, because this is supposed to be your backyard.”

In Ohio, little polling has been done recently, but Trump outpaces Kasich by about three percentage points in a RealClearPolitics average of polls, which is in within the margin of error.

“A big win for Trump” in Michigan “is a really bad sign for Kasich,” Casey said.

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Bill Clinton: Hillary is the ‘best change maker’ I’ve ever known

Former President Bill Clinton campaigns in Chicago for his wife.
(Jose M. Osorio / Chicago Tribune)

Proclaiming Hillary Clinton “the best change maker I have ever known,” former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday told a crowd at an Illinois synagogue that his wife was the most experienced and best-qualified candidate to serve as the nation’s next commander in chief.

In a 45-minute speech, the former two-term president also offered a spirited defense of President Barack Obama’s tenure while making the case that Hillary Clinton would carry on the legacy “so finally we can all rise together.”

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Ted Cruz campaign adds Jeb Bush’s brother Neil to finance team

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Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders campaigns vie for Latino voters in Florida

Latino supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clashed Tuesday over which candidate is a better friend to Florida’s large Latino community.

The rival Democratic campaigns are pushing to win over Latino voters, who make up a third of the Florida electorate, before the state’s crucial winner-take-all primary on March 15.

In a conference call with reporters, surrogates for Clinton attacked Sanders’ record on immigration, highlighting the Vermont senator’s opposition to a proposed comprehensive immigration overhaul bill in 2007.

The bill, which would have boosted border security and created a pathway to citizenship for up to 12 million immigrants without legal status, never reached a floor vote.

“He was absent from most of the critical immigration debate, and unfortunately when he did show up, his record was really troubling,” said Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.).

Millie Herrera, a former Labor Department regional representative in Miami who now supports Clinton, said she and other Latinos who fled leftist revolutions in Cuba and Venezuela are troubled by Sanders’ calls for a “political revolution.”

“It really brings back bad memories of our childhood in Cuba,” Herrera said.

Sanders campaign officials used their own conference call Tuesday to criticize Clinton’s 2007 opposition to issuing driver’s licenses to immigrants in the country illegally.

Arturo Carmona, the campaign’s Latino outreach director, said he believes many Latinos are receptive to Sanders’ promise to get money out of politics and to create more income equality because of their roots in countries with high levels of corruption.

“Many Latinos are sick and tired of establishment politics because of the countries where our communities come from,” Carmona said.

Jeff Weaver, the campaign manager, cited a new TV ad highlighting Sanders’ work in Congress to help Florida’s immigrant workers as proof of his commitment to immigrant communities.

Sanders is the son of an immigrant from Poland, Weaver noted, so he is especially sensitive to immigration.

“This is not an academic subject for Bernie Sanders,” Weaver said. “This is one that reflects his life.”

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Mississippi preview: Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump poised for wins in Deep South

If trends in the race for the White House hold to form, then Mississippi will be fertile terrain for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

While Michigan will award the most delegates in Tuesday’s presidential nominating contests, Mississippi is set to dole out 40 Republican delegates and 41 Democratic delegates as one of the final states in the Deep South to hold primaries this election cycle.

Averages of polls in Mississippi show Clinton and Trump as the strong favorites.

In the last Democratic primary in 2008, a majority of the electorate was African American -- a demographic that has boosted Clinton, the front-runner for the party’s nomination, in states from South Carolina to Louisiana. A Public Policy Polling survey from late February showed Clinton outpacing Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders 66% to 19% when it comes to the backing of black voters.

Black voters have also helped her blunt Sanders’ efforts to make inroads with minorities.

While Clinton has focused much of her attention on Michigan in recent days, she has dispatched her husband, former President Bill Clinton, to Mississippi to mobilize support.

On the Republican side, if the primary electorate is similar to 2012, it will be mostly male, white and high school-educated, based on exit polls from the state’s GOP primary four years ago. Each of those traits falls in line with the base of support Trump has gathered in his quest for the Republican nomination.

Trump has swept the Deep South primaries thus far, though a late surge by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over the weekend helped him narrow the billionaire businessman’s win margin to about two percentage points in neighboring Louisiana.

At a rally in Madison, Miss., on Monday, Trump noted to Mississippians that the race could be close.

“Assume we’re tied,” Trump told supporters. “Because you have got to go out and vote.”

Cruz has also rallied in the state in recent days and was endorsed by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant.

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Marco Rubio: CNN report he is dropping out is ‘patently false’

Marco Rubio pushed back Tuesday against reports he will drop out of the presidential race rather than risk a home state loss next week to GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

“It is just false,” the Florida senator said on Fox News radio, refuting a report on CNN that suggested he might give up.

The damage control comes as voters head to the polls in four states Tuesday, including delegate-rich Michigan.

Rubio needs to sweep Florida, and secure its winner-take-all 99 delegates on March 15, or risk falling hopelessly behind Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz.

The CNN story, citing an unnamed person close to the Rubio campaign, drew harsh flak from Team Rubio after it aired late Monday.

“They just made it up,” Rubio said. “There is no other way to describe it other than the fact that they made it up.”

Rubio campaign spokesman Alex Conant dashed over to the station’s Washington studio to refute it on air.

Rubio suggested that Cruz’s campaign was spreading the CNN report to pull Rubio voters his way.

Cruz faced harsh criticism after his campaign repeated an inaccurate news report that Ben Carson might be dropping out just before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses. Carson suspended his presidential campaign last week.

“I mean, it is just crazy the things people make up these days,” Rubio said. “You see some other campaigns pushing that stuff but it is just patently false.”

CNN said the story was reported by talking to multiple sources, and “we stand by it 100%.”

1 p.m.: This post was updated with comment from CNN.

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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump lead in Illinois ahead of next week’s primary

Republican Donald Trump leads his three rivals in Illinois’ presidential primary, according to a new Chicago Tribune poll that shows many of the fissures affecting the GOP nationally have come to the Midwest.

The survey, conducted Wednesday through Sunday, also found Trump holds his advantage despite having the highest unfavorable rating of any of the Republican contenders ahead of next Tuesday’s election.

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(Scott Olson / Getty Images)

On the Democratic said, front-runner Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead in her native state over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders ahead of next Tuesday’s Illinois primary election, the Tribune poll found.

The survey showed Clinton outpacing Sanders by a better than 2-1 margin, with 67% saying they’d vote for the former secretary of State and 25% saying they’d back the Vermont senator. An additional 8% were undecided.

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Mitt Romney’s broadside may have actually helped Donald Trump

It was a blistering, detailed and unprecedented attack.

But a poll published Tuesday backs up what many predicted: Mitt Romney’s speech condemning Donald Trump had little impact on the front-runner. It may have even helped him.

More Republican voters (31%) said the speech made them more likely to vote for Trump than the total (20%) who said it made them less likely to support him, the Morning Consult poll found. A plurality (43%) said the anti-Trump address would not impact their decision.

The backfiring effect was greatest among Trump’s core voters: men. According to the poll, 41% said the speech drew them closer to supporting Trump. Less than half as many said the opposite.

Romney had his greatest impact among voters who said they were not tea party supporters and those with post-graduate degrees, groups that have tended to support Florida Sen. Marco Rubio.

About a quarter of non-tea party Republicans said they were less likely to go with Trump as a result of the Romney speech, compared with 14% who said they were more likely to head his way. Nearly 1 in 3 Republicans with postgraduate degrees said they would be less likely to go with Trump, compared with 18% who said the speech pushed him their way.

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Florida newspaper skips endorsing any Republican -- even Marco Rubio

Neither Donald Trump, Ted Cruz nor even home-state Sen. Marco Rubio exemplifies qualities worthy of an endorsement, the Sun-Sentinel editorial board has concluded, declining to back a candidate ahead of next week’s primary in the state.

“If you’re angry, like so many voters are, vote for Trump,” the board wrote. “If you want to send a message to the Republican establishment and the Washington elite ... knock yourself out.”

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush failed to harness the voters in what the board called a “Twitter-fueled campaign era.” And the other Florida competitor, Rubio, lacks the experience and work ethic to earn a vote for the presidency, the board wrote.

“Because Rubio has failed to do his job as a senator, broken the promises he made to Floridians and backed away from his lone signature piece of legislation on immigration, we cannot endorse him for president,” the editorial said.

Rubio was endorsed by the Miami Herald and the Orlando Sentinel, which, like the Sun Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times, is owned by Tribune Publishing.

12:52 p.m.: This post and headline were updated to reflect Rubio’s endorsements by other Florida newspaper editorial boards.

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Donald Trump: Comparison to Hitler is ‘ridiculous’

Donald Trump denounced the idea that his supporters’ raised-hand pledge to vote for him resembles the Nazi salute — it’s ridiculous, he said Tuesday.

“That’s amazing that would even be brought up,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “Of course not.… That’s ridiculous.”

Trump asked supporters to raise their hands in a show of support at a rally over the weekend. The image drew widespread criticism, and with the GOP front-runner’s declarations against Muslims and Mexicans, critics accused him of evoking Adolf Hitler’s tactics.

But Trump said he didn’t know about the concerns until Tuesday and called the idea “crazy.”

“That’s a big, big stretch,” Trump told host Matt Lauer on NBC’s “Today,” when asked about the claims that his proposals, including a ban on Muslims coming to the U.S., resemble Nazi Germany’s persecution of Jewish people that was a forerunner to the Holocaust.

He explained that his supporters — in crowds reaching 20,000 to 25,000 — raise their hands in a form of a vote, not a salute. And he added that he plans to look into any complaints.

“If it’s offensive, if there’s anything wrong with it I wouldn’t do it,” he said. “But when I say, ‘raise your hand,’ everybody raises their hand. They’re screaming to me to do it.”

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Super PAC consultant who spent $100 million on Jeb Bush is unapologetic

No one can argue that Mike Murphy didn’t try.

The political strategist who spent more than $100 million to get Jeb Bush the Republican presidential nomination saturated the airwaves with ads. Red billboards flashed Bush quotes. A plane towing a Bush banner buzzed a Donald Trump rally. Murphy went so far as to mail Iowa voters digital video players loaded with a biographical documentary.

It was all for naught. The best Murphy’s effort could buy was a finish that was 1,879 votes shy of third place in New Hampshire for the man once presumed to be the front-runner for the GOP nomination.

Murphy, a Los Angeles-based Republican consultant with dozens of major wins, has accomplished a lot in unexpected places: He got a Hollywood action hero elected governor of California. He got a wealthy Republican businessman elected governor in heavily Democratic Massachusetts.

For all those victories, though, he’s known these days for his role in the Bush super PAC, Right to Rise, one of the most expensive failures in American political history.

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In Michigan, Trump’s bluntness and Kasich’s compassion vie for the hearts of GOP voters

The disgruntled and fearful turf of Michigan spawned two divergent Republican campaigns as Tuesday’s primary neared.

Here, as everywhere else, Donald Trump pushed the negative, assaulting politicians as corrupt, trade negotiators as stupid and jobs as a faint mirage unless he is elected. To “make America great again,” as Trump promises to do, requires convincing voters of just how lousy things are now.

Countering him is the Dr. Phil candidacy of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, whose campaign events here are as much counseling session as political discussion, often interrupted by people who have suffered grievous ills and want from him a hug and a firm assertion that everything is going to be all right.

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Analysis: Free publicity for Clinton and Sanders — on Fox News

Hillary Clinton had largely avoided appearing on Fox News for years. After Monday night’s presidential town hall on the cable station, featuring Clinton and, separately, her challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, she had to wonder: Why?

The front-runner for the Democratic nomination came under sustained questioning by Fox anchor Bret Baier on her use of a private email system while secretary of State. She was asked in depth about the chaotic situation in Libya and whether she deserves the blame for it. She parried the questions and said little different from what she had before.

Baier raised a few questions that had rarely surfaced in previous debates and town halls, but neither Clinton’s nor Sanders’ answers opened a new vein for the opponent to mine.

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Any sign of success for the anti-Trump effort and 4 other things to watch for in Tuesday’s primaries

With Republicans badly fractured over Donald Trump’s advance toward the party’s presidential nomination, the GOP will award 150 more delegates Tuesday as voters cast ballots in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho and Hawaii.

Democrats, meanwhile, head to the polls only in Michigan and Mississippi. The latter is expected to be an easy victory for Hillary Clinton, who has enjoyed wide support from black voters in other Southern states, including Louisiana over the weekend. Michigan has been more hotly contested, with rival Sen. Bernie Sanders mounting a concerted effort to chip away at Clinton’s lead in the polls.

Five things to watch for Tuesday night.

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