Trump towers over his rivals on Super Tuesday

SUPER TUESDAY RESULTS Primaries and Caucuses

ALABAMA	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 77.8%, Sanders 19.2% REPUBLICAN Trump 43.4%, Cruz 21.1%, Rubio 18.7%
ARKANSAS	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 66.3%, Sanders 29.7% REPUBLICAN Trump 32.7%, Cruz 30.5%, Rubio 25.0%
GEORGIA	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 71.3%, Sanders 28.2% REPUBLICAN Trump 38.8%, Rubio 24.4%, Cruz 23.6%
MASSACHUSETTS	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 50.1%, Sanders 48.7% REPUBLICAN Trump 49.3%, Kasich 18.0%, Rubio 17.8%
MINNESOTA	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Sanders 61.7%, Clinton 38.3% REPUBLICAN Rubio 36.5%, Cruz 29.0%, Trump 21.3%
OKLAHOMA	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Sanders 51.9%, Clinton 41.5% REPUBLICAN Cruz 34.4%, Trump 28.3%, Rubio 26.0%
TENNESSEE	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 66.1%, Sanders 32.4% REPUBLICAN Trump 38.9%, Cruz 24.7%, Rubio 21.2%
TEXAS	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 65.2%, Sanders 33.2% REPUBLICAN Cruz 43.8%, Trump 26.7%, Rubio 17.7%
VERMONT	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Sanders 86.1%, Clinton 13.6% REPUBLICAN Trump 32.7%, Kasich 30.4%, Rubio 19.3%
VIRGINIA	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Clinton 64.3%, Sanders 35.2% REPUBLICAN Trump 34.7%, Rubio 31.9%, Cruz 16.9%
ALASKA	01-Mar	REPUBLICAN Cruz 36.4%, Trump 33.5%, Rubio 15.1%
COLORADO	01-Mar	DEMOCRAT Sanders 58.9%, Clinton 40.4%

FRONT-RUNNERS Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton boosted their respective chances of winning their party nominations for the general election after both took seven states on Super Tuesday.

Mr Trump won in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia in the Republican race - while Mrs Clinton dominated her only rival Bernie Sanders in the South.

Indeed, Mrs Clinton took Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia as well as Massachusetts narrowly.

And, while the defeats in the southern states were far heavier, they were expected - and so it is the Massachusetts result which will give Mr Sanders most cause for concern.

Massachusetts was one of a quintet of states - along with Colorado, Minnesota, Oklahoma, and Vermont - which Mr Sanders admitted he really needed to win.

But the fact that he did not fully succeed in this aim suggests his race is nearly run - with bookmakers having now made Mrs Clinton as short as 1/33 to be the Democrat nominee.

By contrast, for now, the equivalent Republican contest is still alive - but Mr Trump is undoubtedly in control.

The entrepreneur's nearest rival Ted Cruz met - or even perhaps even slightly exceeded - expectations in winning Alaska and Oklahoma as well as his home state, the delegate-heavy Texas.

Meanwhile, Marco Rubio finally got on the board with his first primary win in Minnesota.

However, Mr Trump was at least relatively competitive pretty much everywhere, recording his lowest percentage of the night in Minnesota.

There, it was still 21.3% - and his much higher figures elsewhere have helped him pick up delegate nominations even in the states which he did not win.

And this is important - for, ultimately, it is the number of delegates which counts, not the number of states won (although both, of course, go hand-in-hand).

Currently, Mr Trump leads the way with 316 nominations ahead of Texas senator Mr Cruz by 90.

Mr Rubio trails in third place on just 106 delegates but the one-term Florida senator has so far declined Mr Cruz's request for him to end his campaign.

Mr Cruz understandably wants to have a go at Mr Trump all on his own - but Mr Rubio will not pull out as he fancies his chances in the upcoming winner-takes-all contests in Ohio and on his home turf of Florida.

Moreover, Mr Rubio considers Mr Cruz's strong pull of the evangelical vote to be too narrow to win in the general election - or even against Mr Trump.

In fairness, he is probably right in this regard - Mr Cruz should have done far better already. Nonetheless, Mr Trump hardly looks to be quaking in his boots at the thought of a resurgence from Mr Rubio.

Already, indeed, the Queens-born businessman last night instead turned his sabre-rattling towards his anticipated rival for the presidency, Mrs Clinton.

Earlier, Mrs Clinton had made her own Super Tuesday speech in which she said: "I’m going to keep saying it. I believe what we need in America today is more love and kindness, because you know what? It works."

She added that she wanted to "make America whole again" - but this was derided as a meaningless statement by Mr Trump who added: "She [Clinton]'s been there for so long.

"If she hasn't straightened it out by now, she's not going to straighten it out in the next four years. It's just going to become worse and worse."

At least, this time, he launched a legitimate attack on his main political opponent - rather than earlier in the week when he was quoting Benito Mussolini on Twitter.

Or, then, more seriously, appearing reluctant to disavow support from David Duke, the leader of the notorious white supremacist group, the Ku Klux Klan.

Nevertheless, it seems Mr Trump will have plenty of other opportunities yet for mis-steps, both deliberate and planned.

A Republican contest which was previously unclear has now shifted inextricably in his favour and Trump v Clinton on 8 November beckons.

Put the date in the diary folks and then cross your fingers that a badly-coiffured lunatic does not end up in the White House.

It moved one step closer after his and Hillary Clinton's Super Tuesday.

EARLIER RESULTS

IOWA	01-Feb	DEMOCRAT Clinton 49.8%, Sanders 49.6% REPUBLICAN Cruz 27.6%, Trump 24.3%, Rubio 23.1%
NEW HAMPSHIRE	09-Feb	DEMOCRAT Sanders 60.9%, Clinton 37.9% REPUBLICAN Trump 35.7%, Kasich 15.8%, Cruz 11.7%
NEVADA	20-Feb 23-Feb	DEMOCRAT Clinton 52.6%, Sanders 47.3% REPUBLICAN Trump 45.9%, Rubio 23.9%, Cruz 21.4%
SOUTH CAROLINA	20-Feb 27-Feb	DEMOCRAT Clinton 73.5%, Sanders 26.0% REPUBLICAN Trump 32.5%, Rubio 22.5%, Cruz 22.3%

NY TIMES DELEGATE COUNT
Democrat (2382 to win)
577 Hillary Clinton
386 Bernie Sanders

Republican (1237 to win)
316 Donald Trump
226 Ted Cruz
106 Marco Rubio
25 John Kasich
8 Ben Carson