Heading into Michigan and Mississippi on Tuesday baring any last minute upsets front Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are poised for big wins in the rust belt and the deep south. Wins in those two delegate rich states will give both frontrunners heading into the big March 15th battle ground states of Florida and Ohio.
The GOP leader Trump has a 20-point lead heading into Tuesday’s Michigan where it is expected that Ohio Gov. John Kasich is hoping for either a very close second or maybe even an upset win. Kasich want to garner some momentum heading into his big March 15th showdown with Trump in Ohio.
Down South in Mississippi Trump’s main competition now looks like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who has become the clear second place contender in the Republican race for the nomination. It doesn’t look like the establishment favorite Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has lost his traction.
The Democrats are likely to see Clinton beat Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in both Michigan and Mississippi because of her strong minority support by the African American, Hispanic and the women voting communities.
Sanders has yet to prove that he can connect with minority voters. He has done well those far in caucus states and states with very small minority population.
Clinton helped to bolster that support in Michigan by gaining support from key members of the black community in Flint where she was the first politician to visit the area. The Revs. Hubert Miller, Al Harris, and Bishop Rogers L. Jones Sr., three black religious leaders in Flint, endorsed Clinton, citing the fact that she is the only presidential candidate to visit the ailing city and the first to bring national attention to the crisis that has been raging for two years.
Michigan is a must win state for Sanders, because if he can’t win here then it will be hard to make the case that he can really be a national candidate.
