Here's your weekly wrap up of the US election campaign

USA Votes 2016
Right now, GOP rules say Donald Trump is the only viable Republican nominee
"This is my second home," declared Donald Trump after he won the sunshine state of Florida in a big way this week.

It was no surprise.

Although it should have been young Cuban-American Marco Rubio's day in his home state, it was pretty clear for some time that he was going to be Trump-ed by the New York ring-in who has a residence and substantial business interests there.

From coast to coast you could almost hear the inner screams of the Republican establishment as their favourite dropped out.

Rubio was elected to the Senate in 2010 on the back of hardline conservative Tea Party support but his pivot to the more moderate establishment meant he lost much of that base.

He's been described as a heartthrob turned shill. Maureen Dowd described him as a "frothy, focus grouped concoction".

Frothy or not, his bubble for this election has burst.

So for the GOP we're down to three; businessman Trump (who also won Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina this week), evangelical Ted Cruz and the everyman John Kasich trailing (although he won Ohio).

Hillary Clinton continues to collect delegates on the Democrat side, having won Florida, Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina. That's disappointing for her opponent Bernie Sanders who would have hoped to back up last week's surprise win in Michigan.



VICTORS

Trump. Under current GOP rules, he's the only one who can win the nomination at this stage. Trump has won 18 out of 30 states and is the only candidate to have won eight states with a majority and that's important.

A candidate must "demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination."

The rules can be changed fairly arbitrarily before the convention, which would be more than interesting. More on that later.

Cruz. He no longer has to deal with competition from Rubio.

Clinton. She extends her lead over Sanders in the delegate count.

But Bernie hasn't given up.

"With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar that favours us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination," he said.

VANQUISHED

Rubio, who, as discussed, dropped out of the race after losing his home state.

But will he be back?

"It is not God's plan that I be president in 2016 - or maybe ever," Rubio said on the night.

Does "maybe" leave 2020 open?

Rubio has ruled out being vice president this time around.

STILL TRUCKIN'

Kasich won his home state of Ohio, his first victory in this race.

"We're gonna go all the way to Cleveland", he said.

That's a reference to the GOP convention when the nominee will be finally decided in July.

Kasich is now the only so-called establishment candidate in the field, and he's hanging in.

BIGGER THAN YOURS

No, don't worry; it's not another Rubio-Trump battle about endowment.

President Obama has increasingly been taking swipes at some of the candidates vying for his place in The White House - in particular Trump.

In the latest example, Mr Obama questioned the size of Trump's rallies.

"Sometime you hear folks say, oh, that rally is big," Mr Obama said in Texas on Saturday before adding, "I'm not bragging, I'm just saying we had some big rallies".

GREAT SCOTT

Australian golfer Adam Scott got a big time mention in Trump's victory speech on Tuesday night. Described as the "handsome kid from Australia" by The Donald, Scott won a major tournament at Trump's golf course in Florida last week.

The presidential hopeful detailed his embarrassment when anti-Trump campaign ads came up on big screens at the event.

"I was watching Adam Scott hit that last great shot," Trump said.

"And I went back and I was watching the news. And every single advertisement was about me. And it was during my tournament."

FREE PUBLICITY

Oscar Wilde said: "There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about."

Right now, Trump would absolutely agree.



When he isn't making headlines, he's certainly being talked about; whether it's how he can be stopped in a brokered convention or how he can be stopped in a general election.

In fact, the New York Times measured his advantage in terms of free media.

Using data from mediaQuant it found Trump had bought about $10 million worth of media coverage. But in terms of the free stuff? He's earned the equivalent of $1 billion worth of free advertising.

ANTI-TRUMP

Millions of dollars were spent on anti-Trump advertising in Florida, but it didn't stop him from winning.

In fact Florida is one of his best wins by far, with 45.7 per cent of the vote behind Mississippi (47.3 per cent) and Massachusetts (49.3 per cent). Also worth noting, in highly populated Florida, that percentage represents nearly 1.1 million people.

Anti-Trump protests amped up last weekend in Chicago when a rally was cancelled due to scuffles between protestors and supporters. Let's hope that's not a sign of things to come.

It looks very possible that Trump will lead the delegate count into the July convention but may fall short of the number needed to win the nomination (1,237) by a hundred or so.

CONTESTED CONVENTION

The prospect of a contested convention does raise the potential for some very angry Trump supporters and also the very slight possibility that a complete outsider like Kasich could still win.

You'll recall that I mentioned that rule about needing a majority in eight states to even be eligible for the nomination? As I said, so far, Trump's the only one who qualifies but that rule can be fiddled with by the GOP if it doesn't suit their plans.

How do you think Trump supporters might react to that? Just one of many things to watch.

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