Clinton, Trump trade wins with rivals in Western states

(AP) -- Under a fresh cloud of overseas violence, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded wins with their chief rivals on Tuesday and attacked each other's worldviews as the 2016 presidential contest

News 12 Staff

Mar 23, 2016, 2:00 PM

Updated 2,967 days ago

Share:

Clinton, Trump trade wins with rivals in Western states
(AP) -- Under a fresh cloud of overseas violence, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded wins with their chief rivals on Tuesday and attacked each other's worldviews as the 2016 presidential contest turned into a clash of would-be commanders in chief.
While both front-runners scored victories in the night's biggest prize of Arizona, Democratic challenger Bernie Sanders won caucuses in Utah and Idaho and Republican Ted Cruz claimed his party's caucuses in Utah.
The victories kept Clinton and Trump from dominating another election night, but they both maintained a comfortable lead in the race for delegates that decide the presidential nominations.
Long lines and frenzied interest marked primary elections across the three Western states as the world grappled with a new wave of bloody attacks in Europe. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for blasts in Brussels that left dozens dead and many more wounded.
"This is about not only selecting a president, but also selecting a commander in chief," Clinton said in Seattle as she condemned Trump by name and denounced his embrace of torture and hardline rhetoric aimed at Muslims. "The last thing we need is leaders who incite more fear."
Trump, in turn, branded Clinton as "Incompetent Hillary" as he discussed her tenure as secretary of state. "Incompetent Hillary doesn't know what she's talking about," the billionaire businessman said in an interview with Fox News. "She doesn't have a clue."
The back and forth between the front-runners came on a day when voters were eager to make their voices heard in the 2016 election.
In Utah, caucus-goers were dispatched by poll workers to local stores with orders buy reams of paper and photocopy fresh ballots amid huge turnout. The state Democratic Party's website crashed due to high traffic.
In Arizona, voters waited two hours or more in some places to cast primary ballots, while police were called to help control traffic.
As voters flooded to the polls, the presidential candidates lashed out at each other's foreign policy prescriptions, showcasing sharp contrasts in confronting the threat of Islamic extremism.
Clinton -- and Trump's Republican rivals -- questioned the GOP front-runner's temperament and readiness to serve as commander in chief, and condemned his calls to diminish U.S. involvement with NATO.
Addressing cheering supporters in Seattle, Clinton said the attacks in Brussels were a pointed reminder of "how high the stakes are" in 2016.
"We don't build walls or turn our back on our allies," she said. "We can't throw out everything we know about what works and what doesn't and start torturing people."
Cruz seized on Trump's foreign policy inexperience while declaring that the U.S. is at war with the Islamic State group.
"He doesn't have the minimal knowledge one would expect from a staffer at the State Department, much less from the commander in chief," he told reporters. "The stakes are too high for learning on the job."
The debate between the two took a detour late Tuesday night as they engaged in an unusual Twitter exchange about their wives.
The billionaire warned Cruz he would "spill the beans on your wife" after an anti-Trump group ran an ad in Utah featuring a picture of Trump's wife, Melania, from a photo shoot that ran in GQ magazine more than a decade ago.
Cruz shot back with a tweet of his own, saying in part, "Donald, if you try to attack Heidi, you're more of a coward than I thought."
Trump's brash tone has turned off some Republican voters in Utah, where Cruz claimed more than half of the caucus vote -- and with it, all 40 of Utah's delegates.
Yet that wouldn't make up for Trump's haul in Arizona, where he earned the state's entire trove of 58 delegates.
Trump supporter Easton Brady, 19, of Provo, Utah, cheered the billionaire's brash style, even as he acknowledged Trump doesn't play as well in Utah as other parts of the country.
"I think Trump says a lot of dumb things, but he's human," Brady said. "I don't care."
Arizona's win gives Trump a little less than half of the Republican delegates allocated so far. That's still short of the majority needed to clinch the nomination before the party's national convention this summer.
However, Trump has a path to the nomination if he continues to win states that award all or most of their delegates to the winner. Kasich was shut out for the night, leaving him with fewer delegates than Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who quit the race last week.
Overall, Trump has accumulated 739 delegates, Cruz has 465 and Kasich 143. It takes 1,237 delegates to win the GOP nomination.
On the Democratic side, Clinton's delegate advantage is even greater than Trump's.
Coming off last week's five-state sweep of Sanders, the former secretary of state entered Tuesday leading by more than 300 pledged delegates. For the night, Sanders picked up at least 57 delegates to Clinton's 51, having won two states but losing Arizona. Less than two dozen delegates remain to be allocated, pending final vote tallies. Including superdelegates, Clinton was leading Sanders 1,681 to 927.
"These decisive victories in Idaho and Utah give me confidence that we will continue to win major victories in the coming contests," Sanders said in a statement.
___
Associated Press writers Catherine Lucey in Everett, Washington, Jonathan Lemire in New York, Stephen Ohlemacher and Jill Colvin in Washington, Michelle Price in Orem, Utah, and Elliot Spagat in San Digeo contributed to this report.
___
Follow Steve Peoples on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/sppeoples


More from News 12
0:31
Member of Trinitarios gang sentenced to life for murder of Bronx man on Long Island

Member of Trinitarios gang sentenced to life for murder of Bronx man on Long Island

2:04
STORM WATCH: Tracking strong thundershowers for Wednesday and Thursday in NYC

STORM WATCH: Tracking strong thundershowers for Wednesday and Thursday in NYC

1:47
Bronx Community College over the moon about newest tree planted on campus

Bronx Community College over the moon about newest tree planted on campus

2:03
Bronx County Fair comes to Throggs Neck

Bronx County Fair comes to Throggs Neck

2:14
DSNY clears trash left by homeless encampment in Kingsbridge Heights after multiple complaints

DSNY clears trash left by homeless encampment in Kingsbridge Heights after multiple complaints

0:25
MTA announces new strategy to improve transit infrastructure for B and D train lines

MTA announces new strategy to improve transit infrastructure for B and D train lines

1:41
Gov. Kathy Hochul regrets saying Black kids in the Bronx don't know what a computer is

Gov. Kathy Hochul regrets saying Black kids in the Bronx don't know what a computer is

1:52
UFT: More than 850 Title I schools have the space to meet NY’s class size law

UFT: More than 850 Title I schools have the space to meet NY’s class size law

0:24
Police: 37-year-old man found dead inside Soundview home

Police: 37-year-old man found dead inside Soundview home

0:26
Officials identify 29-year-old suspect linked to fire in Allerton building

Officials identify 29-year-old suspect linked to fire in Allerton building

0:27
Authorities: 3 men wanted for stealing $300, pizza from delivery driver in the Bronx

Authorities: 3 men wanted for stealing $300, pizza from delivery driver in the Bronx

0:50
Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B. show off their style at the Met Gala 2024 event

Jennifer Lopez, Cardi B. show off their style at the Met Gala 2024 event

Discounts and perks teachers can use all year

Discounts and perks teachers can use all year

0:29
Attorney General James sues local clinics for abortion-reversal claims

Attorney General James sues local clinics for abortion-reversal claims

0:39
 ‘Melanie’s Law’ passes state Senate, heads for final approval

‘Melanie’s Law’ passes state Senate, heads for final approval

Guide: Deals and freebies for health care workers

Guide: Deals and freebies for health care workers

1:46
Bronx leaders respond to Gov. Hochul's controversial comment on Black and brown kids in the borough

Bronx leaders respond to Gov. Hochul's controversial comment on Black and brown kids in the borough

1:35
City program may help restaurants with outdoor dining reimagine space, provide resources

City program may help restaurants with outdoor dining reimagine space, provide resources

2:16
Bronx businesses say they’re losing money because of local homeless encampments

Bronx businesses say they’re losing money because of local homeless encampments

2:05
Business improvement districts honored for helping small businesses

Business improvement districts honored for helping small businesses