Super Tuesday Live-Blog: A Super-Sized Day of Reckoning for Candidates in 12 States (Updated)

Bernie Sanders waves as he leaves a news conference after voting in the Vermont primary on Super Tuesday. (Jacquelyn Martin / AP )

Update: 1:17 a.m. PST:

Trump and Clinton made the victory speech rounds as well on Tuesday, with Clinton directly addressing the lack of “love and kindness” coming from Republicans. “The stakes have never been higher,” Clinton told supporters in Miami, Florida, “the rhetoric we are hearing on the other side has never been lower.”

— Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

* * *Update: 12:38 a.m. PST:

Here’s a handy chart from the New York Times with the results from Super Tuesday:

— Posted by Natasha Hakimi Zapata

* * *Update: 12:15 a.m. PST:

Below is the speech Sanders delivered after winning the primary in his home state of Vermont. Throughout his address he mentions several of the cornerstone issues of his campaign, including student debt, the prison system and Wall Street. He also discusses climate change, saying, “Now I know that many of my Republican colleagues think that climate change is a hoax. Well I believe that you don’t develop real public policy unless you listen to the science and the science is clear.”

— Posted by Donald Kaufman

* * *Update: 9:05 p.m. PST:

Donald Trump bagged Arkansas. So did Hillary Clinton. But far more surprising was the news that Florida Sen. Marco Rubio won in Minnesota.

But we’ve known for some time now that Minnesota Republicans are prone to displays of eccentric electoral behavior. Exhibit A:

The Senate must insist they will only approve a constitutional originalist.

— Michele Bachmann (@MicheleBachmann) February 13, 2016

* * *Update: 7:05 p.m. PST:

Clinton’s winning streak continues. This just in from The Washington Post:

Former secretary of state Hillary Clinton racked up a string of wins across the south on Super Tuesday, as she widened her lead in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination over rival Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

Clinton has won in six states–Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and Texas, where the largest number of delegates were at stake.

Sanders won his home state of Vermont, as well as Oklahoma. Early returns showed a close race between the two Democrats in Massachusetts, with Clinton narrowly in the lead.

In early results from two states holding caucuses, Clinton was ahead in Minnesota and Sanders in Colorado.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson* * *Update: 6:34 p.m. PST:

Trump’s tally: Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama, Georgia and Massachusetts. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz prevailed in Oklahoma, neighbor to his home turf in Texas, where he emerged victorious earlier in the evening. At press time, Ohio Gov. John Kasich was giving Trump a run for his oft-referenced money in Vermont.

And here’s a unique glimpse into the caucus scene near Minneapolis, complete with multimedia. (Bonus: You’ll learn the difference between a caucus and a primary, and then you can act like you knew that already.)

—Posted by Kasia Anderson

* * *Update: 6:21 p.m. PST:

While Trump has stormed the stage tonight, Rubio has failed to win any states. But according to Guardian contributor Sabrina Siddiqui, he told supporters at a rally in Miami, “We are saying in state after state … [Trump’s] numbers coming down, our numbers going up. … Two weeks from tonight, right here in Florida, we are going to send a message loud and clear. …”

“We are going to send a message that the party of Lincoln and Reagan and the presidency … will never be held by a con artist,” he added.

* * *Update: 6:02 p.m. PST:

Clinton is said to have won Arkansas and Texas. After declaring this a “Super Tuesday” indeed, she drew a sharp contrast between herself and Trump.

“This country belongs to all of us, not just those at the top,” she said in Miami. “Not just the people who look one way, worship one way or even think one way. … America is strong when we’re all strong.

“We’ve got work to do. But that work is not to make America great again. America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole. We have to fill in what’s been hollowed out.”

Her supporters responded with chants of “USA! USA! USA!”

Cruz also won Texas and is projected to win Oklahoma.

* * *Update: 5:28 p.m. PST:

Clinton has been declared the winner of Alabama and Tennessee. An exit poll conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press suggested that women, blacks and older voters went for Clinton in Virginia and Georgia. Nearly half of Clinton’s voters said they were looking for experience in a candidate, while nearly half of Sanders’ voters said honesty was the most important quality to them.

—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

* * *Update: 5:03 p.m. PST:

Trump has won Alabama, Politico relayed, accompanied by a headline that will no doubt thrill his fans and terrify his foes: “Trump poised for near sweep of Super Tuesday states.”

* * *Update: 4:24 p.m. PST:

Sanders prevailed, as expected, in his home state of Vermont. Meanwhile, exit polls in Georgia indicated that Clinton took Georgia and Virginia, and Trump also won in Georgia.

As of 4:19 p.m. PST, Harry Enten at FiveThirtyEight reported that “the updated exit polls have Kasich ahead in Vermont and Rubio dead-even with Trump in Virginia.”

And here’s another bit of primary color: Maybe he was backing the most likely winner, or maybe he was angling for the VP spot on the GOP ballot come November, but whatever his motive, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s recent endorsement didn’t win him many fans among newspaper staffers in his home state. In fact, on Tuesday, half a dozen of them called for Christie’s ouster (per USA Today):

Six New Jersey newspapers issued a joint editorial Tuesday calling on Gov. Chris Christie to resign in the wake of his failed presidential campaign and his subsequent endorsement of rival Donald Trump.

The six newspapers including the Asbury Park Press, the Cherry Hill Courier-Post and the Morristown Daily Record — all Gannett-owned papers that are part of the USA TODAY NETWORK — were apparently spurred to editorial outrage by a Monday press conference in which Christie refused to answer questions about anything other than his nomination of a state Supreme Court judge. Asked why, Christie replied, “Because I don’t want to.”

* * *

Cruz may have a lock on Texas, but is Trump in for big wins in the other 11 states this Super Tuesday? How are things shaping up on the Democrats’ side of the aisle?

According to aggregate poll data posted by Politico, at 2:30 p.m. PST on Tuesday Trump was holding leads of more than 10 points over Cruz and Rubio in Oklahoma, Alabama and Massachusetts. Texas voters were giving Cruz a home-court advantage of 13 points. Clinton was ahead by eight points in Massachusetts, 48 points in Alabama and 21 points in Texas. Sanders was leading by five points in Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, Rubio’s top campaign strategist made the bold prognosis (prior to the start of the Super Tuesday voting, anyway) that Tuesday won’t be the end for his candidate—or for the other GOP hopefuls who aren’t Trump. From The New York Times:

Senator Marco Rubio’s campaign manager, Terry Sullivan, briefed donors and potential allies with a good news/bad news message about the future on Tuesday morning, hours before Democrats began casting ballots in nominating contests in 11 states.

The bad news, according to Mr. Sullivan, is that the race will most likely drag into the Republican National Convention in July. But the good news, he added, is that the Rubio campaign is going to the convention, according to a person in attendance, who spoke on the condition that they not be identified in order to be candid about a private meeting.

In detail, Mr. [Sullivan] explained a march to the convention in Cleveland in which he anticipates that Senator Ted Cruz and Gov. John Kasich remain in the race for the long haul.

Watch this space for updates, commentary and results throughout what’s sure to be a fateful day.

—Posted by Kasia Anderson