It came as Trump rival Marco Rubio appeared on the cusp of a breakthrough following a break-out debate performance.
In the meantime the top Republican presidential candidates are trying to figure out how to cash in on the largest single-day haul of delegates in the race.
And during a Monday rally in Radford, Virginia, Trump read off the results of a CNN poll released earlier in the day that showed Trump leading with support from 49% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters nationally.
Both will hold events Monday in the northeastern state of MA, with Clinton then going to Virginia and Sanders traveling to the northern state of Minnesota.
Trump was asked Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” whether he rejected support from the former KKK Grand Dragon and other white supremacists after Duke told his radio followers this week that a vote against Trump was equivalent to “treason to your heritage”.
On ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Christie was asked numerous questions about his past positions on such Trump policy claims as Mexico paying for a wall along the United States border. Rubio said during a rally in Roanoke, Virgina.
Many party leaders hope US Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will somehow overtake Trump before the party’s nominating convention in July, despite Rubio’s not having won any states and lagging behind in Trump in opinion polls. “There was no ask for raising money for Trump”. “I know how hard that was to do”. “I don’t know anything about what you’re even talking about with white supremacy or white supremacists”.
“A disqualifying & disgusting response by @realDonaldTrump to the KKK”.
The sheer scale of the battlefield favors Trump, whose ubiquitous media profile means he is known everywhere, and Clinton, whose decades in public life give her an advantage over the lesser-known Sanders.
Sometime between suspending his campaign two weeks ago and backing Trump on Friday, Christie changed his mind.
But if you really want to understand Trump’s appeal to Christie, look no further than anonymous former Mitt Romney campaign aides, who told the Daily Beast the other GOP candidates should be counting their blessings that they don’t have to deal with Christie.
“If you’re going to release your tax return, you need to release your tax return”, he said, calling such disclosure a rite of passage for candidates. Ted Cruz, have lesser expectations. Rubio won’t say what he’ll do if he loses there – he’s adamant he’ll win. And Cruz faces a make-or-break moment in his home state of Texas.
Nearly a quarter of the GOP’s nominating delegates are at stake in the March 1 contests. Sanders and Clinton are facing off for 865 of the 2,383 delegates needed to win the Democratic race.
Clinton was successful in SC, in part, because she embraced Obama, someone who remains popular among Democrat’s African-American base. Former Republican National Committee chair Haley Barbour said the same, and Alabama’s Jeff Sessions became the first sitting U.S. senator to go all-in with Trump.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he wasn’t motivated by job prospects when he endorsed Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump.
He also said of Rubio: “I have never seen any human being sweat like this guy”. “Political scientists are going to wonder for years why they didn’t go after him a lot earlier”.