Trump and Hillary Clinton seized the presidential primary in Florida, further solidifying their leads in the hotly contested race for the Republican and Democratic nominations.

 

Trump scooped all 99 delegates in the all-or-nothing contest and tweeted about his victory: “Word is that, despite a record amount spent on negative and phony ads, I had a massive victory in Florida. Numbers out soon!”

 

Rubio had held high hopes to win his home state. Many in the Republican establishment had backed him in the hope of derailing Trump’s dash to the nomination.

Clinton has also been confirmed victor in Florida, thrashing rival Bernie Sanders with 65 per cent of the vote.

 

In early Florida results, Trump was leading the republican race with 45.9 per cent of the vote and Clinton was leading the democratic contest with 65.6 per cent.

 

The Sunshine State is Democrats’ biggest delegate prize of the night. With 214 delegates at stake, Clinton is assured of winning at least 118. Sanders will pick up at least 45.

The other states voting Tuesday are North Carolina, Ohio, Missouri and Illinois.

Trump and Clinton are also leading in North Carolina where six per cent of the vote has been counted.

 

In Ohio, CNN exit polling indicated local governor John Kasich would defeat Trump. However, with just one per cent of the vote in, Trump is ahead

Ms Clinton is also ahead in Ohio.

This comes as US Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio’s Washington campaign office was evacuated after a suspicious white powder was found.

Campaign spokesman Alex Conant told ABC News employees were evacuated to the roof of the Washington office building as a hazardous materials crew inspected the office.

Trump looked to lock his grip on the Republican presidential nomination in high-stakes primary contests that could force his rivals out of the race and give the billionaire developer an insurmountable lead in the all-important delegate count.

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO

The votes in Ohio, Florida and three other states could be the last, best chance for Republican leaders to stop Trump.

But a win would deliver the billionaire a swath of 165 delegates — enough to make him nearly impossible to catch.

The brash, controversial reality TV star and real estate mogul has upended the political establishment by winning most of the state-by-state competitions for delegates who will choose the Republican nominee.

He has seized on Americans’ anger with Washington politicians, winning over voters with his simply worded promise to make America great again.

 

BARACK OBAMA’S VEILED TRUMP SWIPE

US President Barack Obama has branded the presidential campaign as “vulgar and divisive” in a thinly-veiled attack on Donald Trump.

Obama said the campaign was “tarnishing” America’s brand.

In some of his most pointed comments on the 2016 election, Obama said the candidates were setting a bad example for children. The remarks were a thinly-veiled reference to Trump, although Obama did not name names.

“(This) is a cycle that is not an accurate reflection of America and it has to stop,” Obama said. “The corrosive behaviour can undermine our democracy and our society and even our economy.”

Obama said he’d been “dismayed” by the campaign trail. He said the campaign had featured “vulgar and divisive rhetoric aimed at women and minorities, and Americans who don’t look like us or pray like us or vote like we do”.

He said that while he accepted the importance of free speech, the rhetoric must be challenged.

“Too often we’ve accepted this as somehow the new normal and it’s worth asking ourselves what each of us have done to contribute to these kind of vicious attitudes in our politics,” he said.

 

THE RACE IS ON

Earlier Trump racked up a win in the small territory of the Northern Mariana Islands.

The remote US territory yielded just nine delegates in the winner-takes all contest, but was an early boost for the front runner.

Trump spent much of the day focusing his energy on Ohio. It comes as attacks on him intensified on three fronts.

First, the frontrunner was battling criticism over violence at his rallies, with the North Carolina sheriff considering charging the billionaire with “inciting a riot”, before ruling charges out.

Second, this coincided with the anti-Trump Super PAC’s TV commercial, presenting everyday women reciting various statements Mr Trump has made about women. It begins: “Bimbo. Dog. Fat pig”.

And finally, also on the eve of the key vote, popular US blog Humans of New York launched an open letter against the frontrunner which was running viral by last night.

Previous attacks on Trump, however, have yet to blunt his momentum.

Trump is polling ahead in Florida — the biggest prize of the day with 99 delegates — but is neck and neck with Kasich in Ohio.

Trump appeared spooked by Kasich last night, changing his campaign schedule last minute to fly into Ohio on the eve of the vote.

Although Kasich is running last in the Republican race, a victory in the winner-take-all state could hinder Trump’s ability to take enough delegates to reach the minimum in time for the connection.

It’s this possibility that has caused many pundits to believe republicans will face a contested convention in July — a scenario where no candidate has reached the official watermark to claim the nomination.

This hasn’t happened in the US since 1976.

I think our western culture and values are worth fighting for, but we all need to stay cool and make sure we work together, do not fall for the mainstream media hype and hate.

Just remember, to effect change start local, understand the bottom of the political Pyramid, your local council, local State Representatives, Local Schools, Businesses, Sporting and Community Organisations. It is that sort of local knowledge, the who does what, who reports to who, and who we can put direct local political pressure on that counts.

 

Go to it people.

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Have Fun 🙂

Brendan Power