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ON POLITICS
2020 U.S. Presidential Campaign

For the Record: Live yuuuge or die

Brett McGinness, Joanna Allhands, and Jessica Estepa
USA TODAY

Two states, four votes, four different winners. This thing isn't going to be over anytime soon — which is nice, because 98.3% of the U.S. population hasn't had a chance to weigh in yet. Let's recap the Tuesday results ...

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'Cruz.'  *GOP shakes Magic 8 Ball again*  'Trump.'  *GOP shakes harder*

Thumbs up! Gladiators, you're free to fight another day.

Things are not going well for the establishment pick on the Republican side of the bracket. For one, they forgot to define who the establishment pick is. Donald Trump officially recaptured his front-runner mantle Tuesday night with a 19-point win over his closest competitor, Ohio Governor John Kasich. Marco Rubio, who less than 100 hours ago was the Savior of the Mainstream GOP, finished fifth yesterday, behind the Original Savior of the Mainstream GOP, Jeb Bush (Nov. 2015-Jul. 2016), and the New Savior of the Mainstream GOP, Kasich.

It's still early. True, Ted Cruz and Donald Trump have won the first two states, but Trump only has about 1.3% of the delegates he'll need to win the nomination, while Ted Cruz has 0.8%. Still, the "let's pay attention to who comes in second" game can only last so long before it's solely a Trump-Cruz race. The newly minted establishment favorite, a moderate Northern governor, is avoiding the socially conservative portions of South Carolina altogether, and doesn't have any sort of established presence in Nevada — which is unfortunate, seeing as how those are the next two states in the lineup. So much for Kasich-mentum.

Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide

Keep the home fires Berning

Feel the blur.

At least the GOP's primary winner is a registered member of the Republican party. New Englander Bernie Sanders claimed a big win Tuesday in New Hampshire, a victory the candidate said "will echo from Wall Street to Washington." Sanders claimed wins in several demographics, including among men, women, 18- to 64-year-olds, those with college degrees, those without college degrees, gun owners, gun non-owners, and those making less than $200,000 a year. So what's left? Winning in racially diverse states — as in the next two contests in Nevada and South Carolina, where Hillary Clinton is doing well in the polls.

So that's one razor-thin victory for Hillary, followed by a 21-point win for Bernie. That makes the score, um, Clinton 394, Sanders 42, thanks to all the previously pledged superdelegates. In other words, if Sanders somehow managed to pick up 100% of the vote for the rest of February, he'd still trail by 264 delegates. The Panic Meter at Clinton HQ is currently set at "Mild Bemusement."

Christie heads back home to do laundry, assess campaign

He's pretty sure this scarf accidentally wound up in the sock drawer.

It will never not be funny that the first warning sign of suspending a presidential campaign is going home for clean underwear. Chris Christie launched a mercenary raid on Marco-mentum Saturday night, then turned in a sixth-place finish on Tuesday, right behind ... Rubio. Christie had spent a total of 10 weeks campaigning in the Granite State, hoping to win over libertarian-leaning Republicans and carry momentum into later states. Instead, he has canceled plans to head to South Carolina and will assess the state of his campaign with his family.

Still, it's not over until he says it is. After all, we remember a guy, a not-yet president, who retreated to New Jersey when things weren't going well. And then the world changed enormously ...

More from the campaign trail

  • Compared with Trump, Cruz and Rubio, Kasich only garnered 2.6% of the media coverage for the past 100 days (Cincinnati Enquirer)
  • How the candidates differ on health care issues. Ben Carson's plan says he will personally operate on you if you acquire a conjoined twin at some point (Reno Gazette-Journal)
  • Sanders wants big changes; Clinton wants incremental changes. This statement is true regardless of the topic (USA TODAY)
  • 'Robots' harass Rubio in New Hampshire in direct violation of the First Law of Robotics (USA TODAY OnPolitics)
  • Less than three weeks for Bloomberg to decide if he wants to circus up this race a bit more (USA TODAY OnPolitics)
  • Tons of appetizers still available at Jim Gilmore's watch party (USA TODAY)

Wait, is it 'shot AND a beer' or 'shot OR a beer'? Asking for a friend

If you're not a fan of the plutocrat already running for president, or the plutocrat considering a run, there's another one jumping into the ring.

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