The new Republican presidential delegate count that shows Texas Sen. Ted Cruz just 94 behind front-runner Donald Trump, setting up a heightened fight between the two in the upcoming primaries that include five huge winner-take-all contests for 295 delegates, including Ohio and Florida.
Secrets is told that the still unofficial revised Super Tuesday delegate awards will show that Trump now has a total of 329 to Cruz’s 235. It shows a slight shift from the earlier estimated total counts and reinforces that the nomination “is anyone’s to win,” said a Republican strategist.
The bottom line: Super Tuesday wasn’t a Trump rout but essentially a tie between the two front-runners, with Trump likely to be awarded 247 delegates and Cruz, with his huge Texas win, getting 218.
What’s more, Rubio is expected to be rewarded 103, giving him a total so far of 119, and setting up Florida’s winner-take-all election of 99 delegates as a huge prize for the Sunshine State senator and key to his comeback.
The website TapWires first did the updated math. Their numbers are close to those provided to Secrets.
“While Trump racked up a bunch of states Cruz racked up a bunch of delegates,” said the website. “Over the next two weeks there are over 700 delegates at stake which tells us that this is still anybody’s race. The problem for Trump is that as the race narrows the conservative vote which has been split among Carson, Rubio and Cruz is going to begin tilting more toward Cruz,” it added.
Party strategists looking for way to derail Trump are now laser focused on the delegate counts and offered a couple of potential outcomes.
One has the race turning on Florida. A Rubio win would make it a three-man race. A victory by Trump, who leads in the polls, and he is the front-runner by a bigger margin.
Ohio is also a winner-take-all state and there favorite son and Gov. John Kasich stands to impact the eventual winner.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
