|
 A new NBC/Wall Street Journal/Marist opinion poll showed Trump
with a wide lead in Indiana, 49 percent to 34 percent for Cruz and
13 percent for a third candidate, Ohio Governor John Kasich.
Trump, a 69-year-old billionaire real estate developer, sounded
confident in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" when asked whether
Indiana would basically end the long-running Republican race in his
favor.
"Yes, it's over," Trump said. "It's already over."
The poll showed the depth of the challenge facing Cruz, a
conservative U.S. senator from Texas who is trying to prevent Trump
from winning the 1,237 delegates needed to seal the nomination.
Cruz's hopes rest on emerging as a consensus alternative to Trump at
the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 18-21.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, 68, leads U.S.
Senator Bernie Sanders, 74, of Vermont in the race for the
Democratic nomination.
 On NBC's "Meet the Press," Cruz, 45, was asked several times whether
he would support Trump if the New York businessman was the
Republican nominee. Cruz evaded the question each time and turned
the questions into an attack on broadcast media.
“I recognize that many in the media would love to see me surrender
to Donald Trump because that means that Hillary wins. The media has
given $2 billion in free advertising to Donald Trump," Cruz said.
Cruz said he has momentum in Indiana based on his choice of former
candidate Carly Fiorina for his vice president and Friday's
endorsement by Indiana Governor Mike Pence.
Americans will elect a successor to President Barack Obama on Nov.
8.
'THE MOST UNELECTABLE PERSON'
Trump, who has amassed 996 delegates, according to an Associated
Press count, has momentum behind him and looks increasingly likely
to win the nomination outright, without a contested convention,
perhaps when California votes on June 7.
Indiana has 57 Republican delegates. Three are awarded from each of
the state's nine U.S. congressional districts with the candidate who
receives the most votes taking them all. The 30 others are awarded
to the candidate who wins the most votes statewide.
At a rally in Terre Haute, Indiana, Trump urged Republicans to join
his "movement" and turn out for him in big numbers.
"The more we can win by in Indiana is so important. It’s a mandate
... a really important mandate. It’s a mandate for change, but not
Obama change. Real change. It’s a mandate for genius," he said.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a leading Republican
critic of Trump, called him the "most unelectable person" the party
could nominate. Graham had sought the nomination himself.
[to top of second column] |
"Keep fighting Ted," Graham told CBS's "Face the Nation."
CLINTON URGES SANDERS QUIT
On the Democratic side, front-runner Clinton told CNN’s “State of
the Union” that rival Bernie Sanders has been “helpful” in bringing
millions of people into the party's presidential race, but it was
time for him to step aside.
"There comes a time when you have to look at the reality," said
Clinton, who won four of the five Northeastern states that voted
last Tuesday and who has a big lead in the delegate race ahead of
the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia on July 25-28.
But at a news conference in Washington, Sanders refused to get out,
saying he believes the Democratic battle will end up in a contested
convention.
Sanders said it was nearly impossible for Clinton to win the 2,383
delegates needed for nomination without superdelegates, who are
unelected and free to support any candidate they wish. "We intend to
fight for every vote and delegate remaining," he said. Clinton has
2,165 to Sanders' 1,357 delegates, according to an AP count that
includes superdelegates who have said whom they support.
In his Fox interview, Trump defended at length his views on foreign
policy, which he outlined in a speech last week in Washington that
drew criticism for sometimes contradictory views. Trump said he
would move quickly to destroy Islamic State's militancy, but would
resist interventionist policies in order to focus on nation-building
at home.
Trump said "every move we made in the Middle East was wrong" over
the past 15 years, with lives and money wasted. He said he would
resist such policies.
Asked whether the United States should return to working with
"strongmen" leaders like the late Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,
Trump said: "Isn’t it too bad that we knocked him out in the first
place?"
(Additional reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Howard Goller)
[© 2016 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2016 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |
