10.43 AM Friday, 29 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:56 06:10 12:26 15:53 18:37 19:52
29 March 2024

Trump, Clinton win Louisiana

Published
By AFP

A battering of attacks to stop GOP frontrunner Donald Trump's momentum was put to the test in a series of states on Saturday in the race for the Republican nomination, with rival Ted Cruz winning caucuses in Kansas and Maine.

Trump, however, was projected to win in Louisiana and was ahead in Kentucky.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary in Louisiana in what was projected to be a wide margin. Bernie Sanders won caucuses in Kansas and Nebraska, as his campaign tries to make inroads on Clinton's lead in the delegate race for the party nomination.

Voters in Kansas, Maine and Louisiana were casting their lot for the respective Republican and Democratic nominations in what was being referred to as "super Saturday." In addition, Republicans in Kentucky were holding caucuses, while Democrats were gathering in Nebraska for voting there.

While Cruz and Rubio have been attacking Trump on the campaign trail and in Thursday's debate in Detroit, this week has seen a more concerted effort on the part of establishment GOP figures to try to deny him the nomination. On Thursday, Mitt Romney, the party's 2012 nominee, made a scathing speech about Trump, calling him a "phony" and a "fraud."

"He's playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat," Romney said.

Trump responded by calling Romney a "failed candidate" and said that Romney "would have dropped to his knees" to garner his endorsement in 2012.

On Saturday, Trump asked supporters at a rally in Orlando to raise their right hands and pledge to support him when Florida holds its primary on March 15.

Clinton and Sanders have slammed the tenor of the Republican race, in what is evolving into a civil war over the party's future.

Clinton, speaking at a rally in Detroit, said that "you just want to pull your hair out when you see the insult fest" at the GOP debate.