At the close of the day on March 5th, Trump leads Republican candidates with a total of 378 delegates. Ted Cruz has 295, Marco Rubio has 123, and John Kasich has 34 delegates. A total of 1,237 delegates is needed for nomination.
Michigan votes on March 8th, where one poll shows John Kasich leading but all the other polls show Trump winning easily. Beginning March 15 the states of Florida, Ohio, and Illinois will have winner-take-all primaries.
As it stands now, Ted Cruz is down only 83 delegates behind Trump while Marco Rubio is 255 delegates down from the leader. How does Rubio justify remaining in the race? Even if Rubio wins all 99 of Florida’s delegates, (which appears very unlikely) he will still be down 156 delegates. This is a rare time when I agree with Donald Trump, Rubio needs to get out the race.
Erick Erickson on Rubio and Cruz here.
Rich Lowery comments here.
