Trump, Clinton seek upsets in Wisconsin
Maverick Republican candidate uses wife to boost flagging support among women
VOTERS in the state of Wisconsin started casting ballots yesterday in US presidential primary races in which challengers to Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton seem poised to win.
The potentially pivotal contest is the first after a 10-day lull in the process that determines the parties’ nominees for the November general election.
Trump’s main rival, Senator Ted Cruz, is eyeing the Badger State as a crucial fire-wall against the celebrity billionaire’s march to an outright nomination victory.
But should Trump, who is riding a wave of anti-establishment anger, manage to snatch a surprise victory there, he could snuff out Cruz’s campaign.
“If we do well here, folks, it’s over,” he claimed at a campaign stop on Monday in the town of La Crosse.
Like Trump, Clinton risks losing Wisconsin, where she faces a surging Bernie Sanders, who has won five of the last six contests.
But April could ultimately prove a sunny month for the former secretary of state.
She leads Sanders by double digits in New York, which votes on April 19, and Pennsylvania, which casts ballots a week later.
Trump, the 69-year-old real estate mogul from New York, also leads handily in those states.
Wisconsin, the birthplace of the Republican Party, is seen as ground zero for the antiTrump movement.
However, Trump has been in damage control this past week.
Although his campaign had recently seemed bulletproof, his latest controversial statements – on abortion, Cruz’s wife and a journalist who said she had been roughed up by Trump’s campaign manager – have further alienated women voters, polls indicate.
Cruz has tried to cash in on Trump’s campaign gaffes.
“He seems to have a problem with strong women,” Cruz said on a Town Hall edition of Fox News Channel’s Kelly File.
With polls showing Cruz leading in Wisconsin, Trump’s wife Melania – a former model of Slovenian origin – joined him on Monday at the Milwaukee Theatre for a rare campaign trail speech, part of a likely effort to boost flagging support among women.
Melania Trump, 45, said: “As you may know by now, when you attack him, he will punch back 10 times harder.
“No matter who you are, man or a woman, he treats everyone equal.”
The winner of yesterday’s Republican primary will take most of the 42 delegates on offer.
If Cruz wins, he will claim the victory as a turning point in the race, although he will have to struggle to overcome his delegate deficit.
Currently, Trump has 739 delegates, Cruz 466 and Ohio Governor John Kasich 145.
A candidate needs 1 237 delegates to win the Republican nomination outright.
Trump predicted he could sew up the nomination before the confab in Cleveland.
