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 While the Republican race remained in turmoil on Tuesday, Hillary
Clinton's victories in Florida, Illinois, Ohio and North Carolina
cast doubt on U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders's ability to overtake her
for the Democratic Party's nomination.
Trump's wins in Florida, Illinois and North Carolina brought him
closer to the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination and
left those in the party trying to stop him with a dilemma.
Republicans can either throw their weight behind a candidate who
rejects their policy goals or go on trying to stop him in the hope
that he falls short of the majority required, enabling them to put
forward another candidate at the July convention in Cleveland to
formally pick their candidate for the Nov. 8 election.
That, however, would risk alienating the millions of Americans who
back the real estate developer and former reality TV show host.
Ohio Governor John Kasich's victory in his home state left him as
the last establishment Republican candidate standing after Rubio, a
U.S. senator, pulled out of the race. Rubio lost in a Trump landside
in Rubio's home state of Florida.
 U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who has sought to fashion himself
the lead anti-Trump alternative, was outclassed by Trump everywhere
on Tuesday except Missouri, where he narrowly trailed Trump.
Early on Wednesday, MSNBC projected Trump and Clinton would win
Missouri in very tight races. With 100 percent of the votes counted,
Clinton led Sanders by about 1,500 votes and Trump led Cruz by about
1,600 votes.
Many party leaders are appalled at the billionaire Trump's
incendiary rhetoric and believe his policy positions are out of step
with core Republican sentiment, such as his vow to deport 11 million
illegal immigrants, temporarily ban Muslims from the United States,
build a wall along the border with Mexico and impose protectionist
trade policies.
But their bid to stop him has come too late as a Republican field
that once included Trump and 16 high-profile party figures has
dwindled now to only three with Trump, 69, in command ahead of Cruz,
45, and Kasich, 63.
TRUMP CALLS FOR UNITY
Trump, speaking at his Mar-a-Lago beachfront resort on Florida's
Atlantic Ocean coast, called on Republicans to unite behind him and
made a point of mentioning that he had spoken to the two top elected
Republicans in the United States, House of Representatives Speaker
Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
"The fact is we have to bring our party together," Trump, more
restrained than usual, said at an event that was billed as a news
conference but where he took no questions.
"We have something happening that actually makes the Republican
Party the biggest political story anywhere in the world," he said,
referring to what he says are the millions of new voters he has
attracted to the Republican Party.
"Democrats are coming in, Independents are coming in, and very, very
importantly, people that never voted before. It's an incredible
thing," Trump said.
After Tuesday’s victories, Trump needs to win about 54 percent of
the roughly 1,100 delegates still up for grabs. It’s not an
insurmountable challenge, especially when factoring in
winner-take-all states, like Arizona’s 58 delegates and New Jersey’s
51 delegates.
Next up for Republicans is a debate in Salt Lake City on Monday,
although Trump suggested last week that he might not participate. On
Tuesday, both parties will have primaries in Arizona and Utah, and
Democrats will vote in Idaho.
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The wins for former Secretary of State Clinton, 68, added to her
lead in pledged delegates over Senator Sanders, 74, of Vermont, and
gave her an almost insurmountable edge, burying the memory of her
stunning loss in Michigan last week.
“With more than half the delegates yet to be chosen and a calendar
that favors us in the weeks and months to come, we remain confident
that our campaign is on a path to win the nomination," Sanders said
in a statement issued in the early hours on Wednesday.
As she had after other primary wins, Clinton was thinking on Tuesday
about a possible match-up in the Nov. 8 presidential election with
Trump.
"We can't lose what made America great in the first place, and this
isn't just about Donald Trump," Clinton told supporters in West Palm
Beach, Florida. "We can't just talk about economic inequality, we
have to take on all forms of inequality and discrimination."
'HOLDING US TOGETHER'
Kasich's win in Ohio, his first in the nominating fight, makes him
the candidate of choice for party leaders worried Trump's rowdy
campaign will lead Republicans to defeat not only in the
presidential race, but also in state and U.S. congressional races.
Kasich, who has tried to emphasize the positive in a Republican race
dominated by the pugnacious Trump, said his campaign was "about
holding us together, not pulling us apart."
"I will not take the low road to the highest office in the land,"
Kasich told supporters in Berea, Ohio. "We are going to go all the
way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination."
The loss in his home state of Florida was a brutal blow for Rubio,
who was once a rising star in the party and had become the choice of
the party establishment's anti-Trump forces until his campaign
nosedived.
"People are angry, people are frustrated," he said, adding it would
have been easy to stir up those frustrations and make people more
angry. "I chose a different route and I'm proud of it."
Trump's closest challenger is Cruz, a favorite of the conservative
Tea Party, who is second to Trump in delegates but has struggled in
states where conservative evangelicals, among Cruz's biggest
supporters, are not dominant.
By capturing Florida, Trump won all 99 of the state's delegates,
giving him a huge lift in his drive to the nomination.
Kasich's chief strategist, John Weaver, argued in a memo released
after the Ohio result that no candidate was going to win the
necessary delegates before the convention and Kasich would be the
best Republican candidate to go up against Clinton.
(Additional reporting by Megan Cassella, Ginger Gibson and Alana
Wise in Washington and James Oliphant in Miami; Writing by John
Whitesides and Steve Holland; Editing by Howard Goller)
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