| Campaign catch-up: Bernie's surprise, Cruz slows Trump and bad news for Marco, Mitt and Michael | What do you make of it?
That's the question I'm being asked by Americans from North Carolina to Nevada. I'm filming in the Silver State this week and I flew into Reno deep in conversation with my neighbour, who again articulated what seems to be the national question: "What on earth is going on?"
The unusual nature of this presidential campaign certainly has people talking, and if that increases political engagement that's one good outcome.
What do you need to know this week?
Nothing's clear cut yet, but basically:
- Clinton looked like she might have it after Super Tuesday, but Sanders fought back this week in Michigan. He ain't done yet. Can he win? Only if he starts winning big states by big margins.
- Trump is still the frontrunner but suddenly it doesn't look like the whitewash it once did. Cruz is showing his mettle but his base is narrow and will thin from here.
- Rubio. Where are you, dude? It's time to win some states or you're gone.
Victors Donald Trump
He said it himself: "We'll get so much winning if I'm elected that you may get bored with winning." His latest win comes off the back of Super Tuesday part two, where he picked up 72 more delegates after taking Michigan, Hawaii and Mississippi. Trump now has 458 delegates out of 1,237 needed for the nomination. Ted Cruz is next with 359.
Bernie Sanders
Many called Super Tuesday as Sanders' last hurrah last week but the 74-year-old socialist dug his heels in and secured a victory in Michigan to keep himself in the contest. The victory was a massive surprise after Sanders trailed Clinton by an average of 21 percentage points in the final three polls leading up to Tuesday. Clinton had a 99 per cent projected chance of winning according to fivethirtyeight.com. #oops
For the record, Clinton has 1,223 delegates of 2,383 needed, Sanders has 574. (These figures include super delegates.)
Vanquished
Marco Rubio
He won zero delegates in this week's primaries. Consider these headlines:
Marco Rubio looks like a dead man walking
Rubio is speaking to a near-empty Florida stadium
Enough said.
Michael Bloomberg
The former mayor of New York was the beacon of hope for moderate Republicans who had hoped he or maybe even former presidential candidate Mitt Romney would join the race. However, after much speculation Bloomberg released this first person account about why he wouldn't enter the campaign.
Mitt Romney
Speaking of Mitt, the former Massachusetts governor had a rough week after his attacks on Donald Trump didn't seem to stick. Romney took to recording a series of robocalls for candidates Rubio and John Kasich but that didn't seem to help too much either. However, the best of Romney's week may have been on the late night talk show circuit with Jimmy Kimmel, where he read aloud a bunch of mean tweets from Trump supporters.
I swear...
Recently, Trump has started asking voters to raise their right hand and pledge their support to him. There's been much condemnation for the approach, which has drawn comparisons to Nazi Germany. Trump has called those claims ridiculous ... but maybe more ridiculous was watching a dog do it. Since when was sit, stand and shake not enough?
And so does he...
The American Future Fund Political Action released this bleeping ad attacking Trump and his use of profanities. The 30-second ad is called The Best Words, which is taking a swipe at Trump's claim that he has "the best words".
What's next?
Arguably, the biggest date left on the primary calendar. March 15 sees Florida, Ohio, Illinois, North Carolina and Missouri go to the polls.
By the numbers
99 – the number of delegates up for grabs in the GOP Florida Primary next Tuesday night. It's a winner-take-all state, which will make or break the Rubio campaign. Ohio is also winner-take-all.
Tweet of the week
While the Republican candidates went at it in an entertaining, if lacking in substantive debate last week, Clinton managed this tweet of the week: mocking her rivals, while also repurposing vision of her looking less than impressed in her Benghazi senate hearing.
Feel the Bern
While Trump supporters are taking one kind of pledge; supporters of Sanders are doing another. The #BernChallenge has taken hold and supporters are literally "feeling the Bern" by eating hot peppers or hot sauce for their favourite candidate. In Miami this week before the democratic debate, the Bernie fans were at it again. Hot diggity.
We will have a team in Florida for the primary on Tuesday. Will things be clearer after that? I'm starting to wonder if we'll have clarity until the July conventions to be frank. Let's pace ourselves shall we?
See you next week,
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