The Trail 2016: Tuesday looking super for Trump

by Jonathan Easley - 03/01/16 5:21 PM ET

Welcome to THE TRAIL 2016, your daily rundown from The Hill on all the latest news in the White House, Senate and House races.

Looking ahead to the March 15 winner-take-all contests while his rivals scrambled to shore up their Super Tuesday support, GOP front-runner Donald Trump swaggered through a rally in Ohio on Tuesday and dominated discourse online and on social media.

Trump is poised for some big victories on Super Tuesday as Republicans try to figure out just what to do about him. Speaker Paul Ryan scolded Trump on Tuesday for not disavowing the KKK. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell all but did the same. And Senate GOP Whip John Cornyn is worried that Trump will be an “albatross” for the party.

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) and Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) are the latest to announce they won’t support Trump as the GOP nominee.

Read The Hill’s Niall Stanage on how a panicked GOP is bracing itself against what looks like a Trump onslaught on Super Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Trump’s rivals are digging in. One conservative anti-Trump group is running with the ‘con-man’ line of attack. There are sightings of stop Trump swastika signs in Texas. Hillary Clinton is seizing on the David Duke flap, as are other Democrats, who are otherwise torn over whether to fear Trump in the fall.

Stay with The Hill all night and into the morning for coverage of what’s lining up to be a wild Super Tuesday.

We’ll be covering the results in real-time as they flood in from Alaska to Vermont. The Hill’s Editor-in-Chief Bob Cusack and Managing Editor Ian Swanson will have their take on why Trump is dominating. In the morning, we’ll have a wrap-up of all the day’s winners and losers.

In the meantime, The Hill’s Jonathan Easley has five things you should watch for as the drama unfolds.

Bookmark The Hill’s running tally of results from the Associated Press as races are called, and the county-by-county vote breakdowns. In several cases, Trump is likely to be declared the winner as soon as polls close. You can also keep track of the delegate count with the AP’s delegate tracker.

RACE TO 1600 PENN

YOU FIRST: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Ted Cruz is calling on Marco Rubio and Ben Carson to drop out of the GOP race if they fail to win a state on Super Tuesday.

NOT GOING ANYWHERE: The Hill’s Jonathan Easley reports: Ben Carson’s close friend and top outside adviser says that even though he’s been pressured to, Carson won’t drop out on Tuesday even if he takes home zero delegates.

COURSE IN CIVILITY: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Ben Carson is seeking to arrange a meeting with the remaining GOP contenders to discuss the nasty turn the race has taken.

OH, CANADA: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: A judge in Illinois tossed a suit designed to keep Ted Cruz off the ballot because he was born in Canada.

FINAL BATCH: The Hill’s Rebecca Kheel and Megan R. Wilson report: The State Department released the last tranche of Hillary Clinton’s emails just before voters headed to the polls on Super Tuesday.

PICKING A FIGHT: The Hill’s Amie Parnes reports: The chairman of Hillary Clinton’s campaign is questioning the integrity of the State Department watchdog leading the inquiry into the personal email account and server she used as secretary.

FULL TRUMP: The Hill’s Ben Kamiar reports: Marco Rubio has adopted Donald Trump’s insults playbook as he seeks to tear down the front-runner.

ODDS AND ENDS:

FIGHT FOR NUMBER TWO: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: Ben Carson topped the list of most popular choices to be Donald Trump’s vice president. Meanwhile, John Kasich says there’s no chance he’ll be someone’s vice president.

LAYING OF HANDS: The Hill’s Jonathan Swan reports: Marco Rubio stopped a campaign rally to pray for a woman who fainted at his rally.

TAKING IT BACK: The Hill’s Rebecca Savransky reports: The New Hampshire Union Leader is retracting its endorsement of Chris Christie after the New Jersey governor endorsed Donald Trump for president. Rand Paul says now he’ll re-enter the race if the Union Leader agrees to endorse him.

BEWARE: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: A fake New York Times article that claims Elizabeth Warren is endorsing Bernie Sanders is wreaking havoc online. This much is true, however: Rapper T.I. is throwing his support behind Sanders because he can’t bring himself to vote for a woman.

STILL WITH HIM: The Hill’s Harper Neidig reports: Sen. Mike Rounds (R-N.D.) says that Trump is still better than Hillary Clinton even with the flap over David Duke and the KKK.

POLL POSITION

NEW HIGH FOR TRUMP: The Hill’s Kyle Balluck and Mark Hensch report: Donald Trump has expanded his lead over the GOP field and hit another high in a new national poll.

DEMS RUNNING STRONG: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both beat Trump in a head-to-head match-up in a new poll.

THE DAILY TRUMP

PROCEED: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: A court has denied Donald Trump’s bid to throw out a lawsuit against his eponymous university.

THE NEGOTIATOR: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Donald Trump addressed the rumors swirling about what he told the New York Times off-the-record about immigration. Some of his immigration policy, he told Fox News, is negotiable.

NOT HELPING PART I: The Hill’s Mark Hensch reports: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is praising Donald Trump for not being beholden to Jewish special interests.

NOT HELPING PART II: The Hill’s Jesse Byrnes reports: A Liberty University board member is knocking the school’s president for endorsing Trump.

ALSO NOT HELPING: The Hill’s Judy Kurtz reports: Actress Neve Campbell says her biggest fear is a Donald Trump presidency and that she’ll flee the country if it comes to pass.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I call him ‘Little Marco. He said I have small hands. I’ve always heard people say, ‘Donald, you have the most beautiful hands.’”

— Donald Trump on rival Marco Rubio’s barbs

CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGNS

FLORIDA SENATE: The Hill’s Lisa Hagen reports: Democrats have the edge in the crowded Florida Senate race to replace Marco Rubio, according to a new poll.

HECKUVA JOB, JOE: The Las Vegas Sun reports: Rep. Joe Heck (R-Nev.) is getting a hand from a Koch brothers-backed group in his bid for Senate.

MONEY WATCH

NO SATURATION: The Washington Post reports: Super-PACs could not afford to blanket the airwaves and mailboxes in Super Tuesday states in the same way they did in the carve-out states, giving Trump a significant boost.

WHAT WE ARE WATCHING FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW:

(All times Eastern)

Donald Trump will hold a press conference with reporters at 9 p.m. Tuesday at his Palm Beach, Fla., estate, Mar-a-Lago.

Marco Rubio will hold a rally in Miami, Fla., at 8 p.m. Tuesday. He holds a 4:30 p.m. rally on Wednesday in Shelby Charter Township, Mich.

Ted Cruz will hold a rally in Overland Park, Kan., at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, while a Super Tuesday election party begins at 8 p.m. in Stafford at the Redneck Country Club.

John Kasich will attend the Central Mississippi Republicans Gala Dinner in Jackson at 7:30 p.m., and will give his Super Tuesday remarks from the Hilton there at 8:30 p.m. On Wednesday, he holds three town halls in Michigan.

Ben Carson will hold an election night party at The Grand Hotel in Baltimore at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Hillary Clinton will rally supporters at a campaign stop in Miami, Fla., on Tuesday evening. Former President Bill Clinton will rally supporters at 6 p.m. in Norfolk, Va. On Wednesday, she’ll hold a post Super-Tuesday rally at 5:45 p.m., Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, New York City. Clinton, along with husband Bill and daughter Chelsea will be on hand for a fundraising concert starring Katy Perry, Elton John and Andra Day at Radio City Music Hall that evening.

Bernie Sanders will hold a rally in Essex Junction, Vermont at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he holds an afternoon rally in Portland, Maine, and an evening rally in Lansing, Mich.

TWEET OF THE DAY

The Vote is precious, it is almost sacred. I gave a little blood to guarantee that every American has the right to vote. Do your part.

— John Lewis (@repjohnlewis) March 1, 2016