Donald Trump Wins Kentucky Republican Caucus, Calls on Marco Rubio to Drop Out

I Want Ted: It’s Time for Marco to Clean the Deck

Donald Trump has defeated Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and his rivals in the Kentucky Republican Caucus, putting the score at 2 to 2 on Super Tuesday. However, while Sen. Cruz had a big night to make the case moving forward, The Donald will walk away with more delegates than the Texas senator.

In a scheduled press conference following the results out of the caucus, which followed a win in the Louisiana Republican primary, Mr. Trump called on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to get out of the race and allow him and Sen. Cruz to go one-on-one. Sen. Cruz

“Ted should’ve done well in Maine. It’s close to Canada,” Mr. Trump joked before getting serious. “I’d call for Sen. Rubio to get out of the race. I want Ted.”

The Republican frontrunner soon turned his attention to the Democratic frontrunner and responded to her mocking of his campaign slogan. Hillary Clinton said during her speech for the second time that voters shouldn’t want to “Make America Great Again,” but “make America whole again.”

“I think she means we’re in a hole,” Mr. Trump added. We’re in a deep hole and it’s time to dig ourselves out.”

He also called the press at the press conference the “most dishonest people ever made by God” before saying he was opening up the floor for questions from the “most dishonest people ever.”

Speaking after his not-so surprising win in the Kansas Republican Caucus and his surprising win in the Maine Republican Caucus, Sen. Cruz again stated that he is the only candidate to beat the frontrunner. Sen. Cruz again repeated that he beats Mr. Trump in a one-on-one, though that’s not exactly true.

“That argument was at one point true. Politics, particularly nominations, are all about perception and it’s not surprising Sen. Cruz keeps repeating it,” said PPD’s senior political analyst Richard Baris. “The problem is that it is a false claim. Looking at the calendar map, delegate count and polling data going forward, that is no longer the case and Trump knows it. It’s not a coincidence he called for Sen. Rubio to leave now.”

And he did so multiple times.

“He cannot hold one of those phony rallies tonight… It’s time for Marco to clean the deck,” Mr. Trump said. “And I say that respectably.”

Candidate Popular Vote Delegate Votes Soft Pledged Soft Unpledged Soft Total Hard Total Trump, Donald John, Sr. 67,748  35.52%         Cruz, Rafael Edward “Ted” 59,961  31.44%         Rubio, Marco A. 31,761  16.65%         Kasich, John Richard 28,014  14.69%         Carson, Benjamin Solomon “Ben”, Sr. 1,544   0.81%         Paul, Randal H. “Rand” 764   0.40%         Uncommitted 408   0.21%         Bush, John Ellis “Jeb” 252   0.13%         Huckabee, Michael Dale “Mike” 149   0.08%         Christie, Christopher James “Chris” 58   0.03%         Fiorina, Carleton Sneed “Carly” 57   0.03%         Santorum, Richard John “Rick” 26   0.01%         (available)   46 100.00%   46 100.00% 46 100.00% Total 190,742 100.00% 46 100.00%   46 100.00% 46 100.00%

Delegate Selection: Proportional Caucus/Convention, Polling hours reportedly 6:00a EDT (1000 UTC) / 6:00a CDT (1100 UTC) to 6:00p EDT (2200 UTC) / 6:00p CDT (2300 UTC). Poll closing time could be rather problematic in KENTUCKY. A large chunk of the state is in CDT [but the networks consider that “most of the polls have closed” in KENTUCKY by 6 PM EDT. CDT voters in KENTUCKY may note the networks’ willingness/eagerness to project a winner as early as 6 PM EDT. Voter Eligibility: Closed Primary 46 total delegates – 10 base at-large / 18 re: 6 congressional districts / 3 party / 15 bonus