WASHINGTON (AP) – Can Hillary Rodham Clinton and Donald Trump find clear sailing in their quest for the presidential nominations? Voters in a dozen states were answering that question Tuesday in a crucial turn for the tempest-tossed race.
Each held a 3-1 record for states won, going into Super Tuesday, and could come out of it with a commanding lead in the delegates needed to clinch the nomination. Their rivals made every effort to slow them.
A look at biggest day in the calendar of presidential primaries and caucuses.
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VOTERS SAY…
-“Ultimately, if we have to elect someone who is borderline crazy to get people to understand what’s going on, then that’s what we have to do.” – Tyler Murphy, 26, of Boston, explaining his vote for Trump in the Republican contest. His backup choice was Clinton, a Democrat.
-“I’m so appalled at the choices.” -Gillian Gattie, 72, also of Boston. After 2008 and 2012 votes for Barack Obama, she was voting this time in the GOP race, for Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
-“I can’t get excited for Bernie Sanders.” – Gillian’s twin sister, Vivien Gattie, who reluctantly voted for Clinton.
-“I like his background coming from a mother and dad who worked very hard, paycheck to paycheck. For him to provide that depth of understanding of what most people go through is important to me.” – Mark Vinson, 53, in Lubbock, Texas, explaining his vote for Republican Marco Rubio.
-“I stood in line for six hours the other day at a Trump rally because to me he’s just the man. He is the one that is going to make the country great again.” – Jeanie Lindsey, in Helena, Alabama, on why she lined up for 40 minutes Tuesday to back Trump.
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THE LINEUP
Both parties held contests in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. As well, Republicans voted in Alaska and Democrats in Colorado. Democrats also had a contest in American Samoa and for Democrats abroad.
Polls close, EST: 7 p.m. in Virginia, Georgia and Vermont; 8 p.m. in Oklahoma, Alabama, Tennessee and Massachusetts; 8:30 p.m. in Arkansas; 9 p.m. in Texas, Colorado and Minnesota; midnight in Alaska.
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WHAT’S THE SCORE?
Before Super Tuesday, Trump won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Clinton won Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina.
Republican Ted Cruz won Iowa. Democrat Sanders won New Hampshire.
Republicans will allocate 595 delegates from the results of Super Tuesday, nearly half of the 1,237 needed for the nomination.
Democrats will allocate 865, more than one-third of the necessary 2,383.
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WHY IT MATTERS
Immigration policy, the swollen U.S. debt, the uneven spread of wealth and hard questions about how to approach the Islamic State, terrorism and civil liberties are all in play for voters.
So is the fate of fundamental social policy as the Supreme Court stands ideologically divided. A vacancy may not be filled until after the next president takes office in January.
Trump’s agenda involves browbeating trading partners and others into doing his will. He would be on the hook for carrying out mass deportations of people in the country illegally, for temporarily banning non-U.S. citizen Muslims from coming into the country and for replacing President Barack Obama’s health care law with a system that does not, as he put it, leave people to die on the street.
Democrats have a choice between liberal pragmatism and liberal ambition.
Sanders preaches free college, a transformation of health care to a government-financed “Medicare-for-all” system and a breakup of big banks as part of an agenda centered on shrinking the gap between rich and poor. That means a far heftier safety net, at the cost of higher taxes and what a lot of economists say would be higher national debt.
Clinton says his goals are politically impossible and she would follow an achievable, yet still activist path.
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TEXAS AND THE SOUTH
The South will enjoy more influence in this campaign because of several states added to the Super Tuesday roster, giving this subset the nickname “SEC primary,” a nod to the Southeastern Conference of college sports. Clinton demonstrated her pull with black voters in South Carolina, suggesting she may do well in other Southern states with significant black populations.
The biggest Super Tuesday state overall is Texas, where Cruz has a home-state advantage built on prime endorsements from the governor down the political chain and a veritable army of some 27,000 volunteers.
Everything in politics is double-edged, though.
If Trump’s rebel yell attracts enough support to make him the winner or even a close second, Cruz will face sharp questions about his viability.