Blogger Candidate Forum: Primary Wrap Up April 26, 2016

Acela train
slate.com

Hello Everyone:

It is Wednesday and that means Blogger Candidate Forum day.  What a Wednesday it has been so far.  It has been an eventful Wednesday on the campaign trail.  Senator Ted Cruz revealed his running mate, Senator Bernie Sanders announced campaign staff lay offs, Donald Trump, well was Donald Trump.  Before we get going on all the developments, let us take a look at the results of yesterday's primaries in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, and Rhode Island-dubbed the "Acela Primaries" for the train service traveling between those states.

States holding primaries on April 26, 2016
bbc.com

The big news from yesterday's primaries is frontrunners Secretary Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump cemented their leader status.  Mr. Trump swept all the states in play to end the night with 109 to give him a total of 987 out 1,237 delegates.  Governor John Kasich and Sen. Cruz did not walk away completely empty handed.  Thanks to Rhode Island's system of proportionally awarding delegates in the Republican contest, The Governor came away with 5 delegates and the Gentleman from Texas was awarded 3 delegates.  Mr. Trump needs only 250 more delegates to securing the nomination outright.  There are still a total of 583 delegates still available on the Republican side.

On the Democrat side of the aisle, Madame Secretary won four out of the five states in play.  Sen. Sanders won the state of Rhode Island.  Sec. Clinton finished the night with 216 added to her previous 1948, give her a total of 2,164 delegates.  With 1,246 still available, Sec. Clinton needs 219 delegates to secure the nomination outright.  The delegates were awarded on a proportional basis, thus, Sen Sanders did not walk away empty handed-winning 163 to give him 1,355 delegates.  (http:www.ap.org)

Senator Sanders
oregonlive.com

Let us stay with the Gentleman from Vermont for a moment.  The big news from the Sanders campaign is the announcement of staff lay offs.  In an interview with CNN, an adviser said "Bernie Sanders' campaign is downsizing its field staff, as well as some advance and other workers." (http://www.cnn.com)  The Gentleman from Vermont confirmed this in an interview with the New York Time:

It will be hundreds of staff members...We have a very large staff, which was designed to deal with 50 states in this country; 40 of the states are now behind us.  So we have had a great staff, great people.  (http://www.nytimes.com)

While the adviser was not quite sure exactly how many workers would be laid off but the Times reporting, "'hundreds' of campaign staffers." The focus would be shifted to winning California.  (Ibid)  This news comes on the heels of last week's thrashing in New York and last night's resounding defeat in four out of the five primaries.  Much to the Clinton campaign's credit, Madame Secretary has not called for the Gentleman from Vermont to drop out of the race.  Blogger also has to give respect to Sen. Sanders for staying in the race.  Be that as it may, the news of lay offs does not bode well for the future.  You can say that the Gentleman from Vermont still believes he can win the nomination but in order to do so, he must defeat Madame Secretary in the remaining primaries by at least 59 percent of the vote.  Also, you can say that this is a prelude to suspending the campaign.  Yours truly figured that after being soundly beaten in New York, the Sanders campaign would wait and see what happened this week before making any big decisions about the future.  They got their answer.

Senator Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina
nytimes.com

Meanwhile, there was no shortage of fireworks coming from the Republican side of the world.  Senator Ted Cruz announced his choice of running mate today at a campaign event in Indianapolis, Indiana.  The Gentleman from Texas selected from Hewlett-Packard president and onetime nominee candidate Carly Fiorina as his choice for vice presidential running mate.  For those of you outside the United States, the president and vice president are elected together, not separately.  Also, typically the names vice presidential candidates are not announced until the conventions.  This was an attempt to re-invigorate his campaign after being mathematically eliminated from winning the Republican nomination outright.  The Senator remains optimistic about emerging victorious in a contested convention.  Really?  Honestly, after coming a VERY distant second and third in last week and this week's primaries, the Gentleman from Texas is desperate for anything that will help him regain the momentum hijacked by the Trump campaign.  The alliance between him and The Governor failed and he must have a strong showing in next Tuesday's Indiana primary if he is to remain a viable candidate so he hopes that naming his running mate will do the job.  Okaaaaay.

Mary Pat Christie rolling her eyes at Donald Trump
wlky.com

Donald Trump was back to his usual verbal spewage during his post-primary victory speech Tuesday night.  Standing on the podium with Mr. Trump were New Jersey Governor and onetime nominee candidate Chris Christie and his wife Mary Pat.  In his address, Mr. Trump took direct aim at presumptive Democrat nominee Madame Secretary, saying "she was only getting support from other women because of her gender." (http://www.cnn.com)  Specifically he said,

The only thing she's got going is the woman's card.  And the beautiful thing is women don't like her, OK?..."

This comment got an eye roll from New Jersey's First Lady, stealing the show from the presumptive Republican nominee.  Ouch.  To paraphrase the late Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion, "Hillary Clinton is the only man for the job."

What a moment.  Yours truly does not think it could have been any better scripted by the best screenwriter.  That eye roll speaks volumes for all the women who are fed up with having their accomplishments de-valued by neanderthals who throw shade. Say what you want about Madame Secretary but you cannot take away the fact that whatever she-women across the United States and around the world-have accomplished or yet to accomplish is not because of our gender.  We stand or fall on our own merits.

United States Presidential Elections 2016
timetoast.com

Quixotic campaigns and misogynist comments aside, what happens next?  The immediate future holds more primaries and the possibility of both Donald Trump and Secretary Hillary Clinton clinching their respective nominations before they reach California.  The distant future holds questions for Governor John Kasich, Senators Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders.  The overarching question is "Do you continue your campaigns all the way through California?"  Blogger does not see Gov. Kasich realistically continuing his campaign.  He might do well in Indiana but the foreseeable future does not look good for The Governor.  Perhaps it is best that he stop and go back to Ohio.  The Gentleman from Texas could poll strong numbers in the western and southwestern states; remaining a viable candidate.  However, naming his running mate this early was not the wisest idea.  However, the Gentleman from Vermont may have a bright future after all.  Blogger recognizes that Senator Sanders's social democracy message has resonated with a lot of voters.  What Blogger would like to see is Sen. Sanders work with Madame Secretary to find a way to put concepts such as financial industry reform, single-payer healthcare, criminal justice reform into practice.  Yours truly thinks it can be done, if both Senator Sanders and Secretary Clinton are willing to do so.