James Antle reports for the Washington Examiner on the prospects for Marco Rubio and John Kasich to win their respective home states in next Tuesday’s primary elections.
Can Marco Rubio and John Kasich survive until their home states vote? Tuesday night has raised this uncomfortable question for both candidates.
For weeks, Rubio’s strategy for winning the Republican presidential nomination has centered around winning Florida. Kasich is following a similar script in Ohio, where he has won statewide twice and been a political fixture since the 1980s.
Both scenarios have since become an important of the burgeoning movement to deny front-runner Donald Trump the Republican nomination by keeping him from winning a majority of delegates on the first ballot at the national convention this summer.
While Rubio and Kasich are the last men standing who are acceptable to the Republican establishment, a potentially broader #NeverTrump coalition has been placing their hopes in the Florida senator and Ohio governor. …
… Rubio has only won Minnesota and Puerto Rico. Kasich has won nowhere, posting just a couple of distant second place showings in New England. Tuesday night has made things considerably worse.
Kasich was supposed to have the best chance of any Republican running to beat Trump in Michigan. Instead he finished third. There was talk of Rubio potentially competing in Idaho or Hawaii. He finished third in both states, while running fourth and in the single digits in Michigan and Mississippi.