Both nominations could be locked up sooner than expected. Creative Commons image from Wikipedia.

By Connor Ryland and Kiki Fann 

Trump takes a commanding lead:

Donald Trump’s dominant performance on Super Tuesday solidified him as a strong favorite to win the Republican nomination, a prospect that many had considered inconceivable previously. Trump has long been pulling around 30-40% of the party’s support, but general reasoning had been that he had already reached his ceiling and when other candidates dropped out, voters would center together around a more traditional candidate.

But Trump captured 237 delegates on Tuesday to add to his commanding total of 319, putting him firmly ahead in the final count of Ted Cruz (226 delegates) and Marco Rubio (110 delegates). 1,237 delegates are needed to win the nomination. With this win, the prospects of Cruz and Rubio chipping at Trump’s popularity at tonight’s debate seem slim; in previous debates, Trump has powerfully refuted any challenges by referencing his success in the polls. Trump, a reality TV star, has benefitted tremendously from new media; his unvarnished, direct rhetoric on stage is a pleasing contrast to usual “politician speak,” and he has a knack for saying what people are thinking. (“Ben, why are you tired? was one of the best examples.)

In most elections, Ted Cruz, the “anti-establishment” senator who largely gained national fame by reading “Green Eggs and Ham” on the Senate floor during a 21-hour filibuster of Obamacare, would have been spectacle enough. And Cruz has got on board with Trump’s unprecedented hard-line on immigration, agreeing a wall should be erected between the US and Mexico and the US should actively deport its current illegal immigrants.

Less extreme Republicans now have to look to Senator Marco Rubio, with John Kasich’s campaign floundering and Ben Carson dropping out of the race. Rubio has taken to giving victory speeches after finishing relatively close, but he’s only won one state—Minnesota—and with winner-take-all states up coming, he continues to look like a longshot.

I’ve found Rubio rather uninspiring, and have had a much better impression from John Kasich, an experienced politician who, among other things, worked across party lines during the Bill Clinton administration to help our country to an economic surplus and one of the most prosperous economic times in the recent era. It is this inter-party collaboration that we need, but the problems with the current Republican Party go further. Mitch McConnell and the Republican leadership have, during Barack Obama’s tenure, become to party of “No,” flat-out rejecting any Obama idea simply because it is Obama’s. And most recently, McConnell stated he would reject Obama’s proposed appointment to fill the late Justice Scalia’s seat no matter who it was.

We need collaboration rather than this pettiness, but Kasich has not even won a state, and looks to be dropping out soon. A few conservatives I’ve talked to are honestly embarrassed by their party’s current frontrunners, and with good reason, but after Super Tuesday, they look like they’re here to stay.

#FeeltheBern?

When I wrote my article nearly two months for the Coat of Arms about Bernie Sanders’ outside chance to win the Democratic nomination I figured him to put up more of a fight then he currently is. There is no way to bend the truth for Bernie supporters: Bernie got dominated on Super Tuesday by Hillary.
Sanders won a mere four out of the eleven states which voted on Tuesday, one of which was Vermont which was a clear win for Bernie, by alarmingly small marginals. Of the four states which Bernie won only one had 60+ delegates, while all seven states Hillary won had 60+ delegates.

In the fairly large states Bernie did manage to win in, he won by slim margins. In Oklahoma, he only won by two percent and in Colorado only nine percent. Bernie did manage to win 60%+ votes in two states, Minnesota and Vermont, while Hillary won 60%+ of the votes in six out of her seven wins. In some states Hillary managed to pull of upwards of seventy percent of the votes, which give her a clear advantage. With the Democratic primaries and caucuses it is critical to remember that delegates are awarded by proportional vote, so Hillary winning 71% of the votes in Georgia means she gained a large advantage in delegates awarded.

Thus far in the election Bernie has only managed to win in states where “black votes only make up 10% of the population,” Harry Enten of FiveThirtyEight stated in his article. The worst performance Clinton received from black voters was in Oklahoma where she received 71% of black votes, according to FiveThirtyEight. Bernie also struggled heavily in Texas with Hispanic voters, who figure to play a large role in California, if Bernie even manages to make it until then.

All in all, Bernie ended up winning 340 delegates on Super Tuesday while Hillary won 504 delegates. Hillary now has 1,052 delegates while Bernie only has 427 delegates. With only 2,383 delegates needed to garner a nomination Hillary has a substantial lead. With the fact that all Democratic primaries and caucuses are proportional voting this substantial lead for Hillary also looks fairly safe.