Sanders takes Michigan, Clinton Mississippi; Trump rolls

LANSING, Mich. - Bernie Sanders breathed new life into his longshot White House bid with a crucial win in Michigan's primary Tuesday night, chipping away at Hillary Clinton's dominance in the Democratic presidential race. Republican Donald Trump swept to victory in both Michigan and Mississippi, overcoming fierce efforts to blunt his momentum.

Even with Sanders' win, Clinton and Trump moved closer to a general election face-off. Clinton breezed to an easy victory in Mississippi, propelled by overwhelming support from black voters, and she now has more than half the delegates she needs to clinch the Democratic nomination. Trump, too, padded his lead over Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who carried the Idaho primary. Trump later won the Republican presidential caucuses in Hawaii,

The front-runners turned their sights on November as they reveled in their wins.

"We are better than what we are being offered by the Republicans," Clinton declared.

In a nod toward the kind of traditional politics he's shunned, Trump emphasized the importance of helping Republican senators and House members get elected in the fall. Having entered Tuesday's contests facing a barrage of criticism from rival candidates and outside groups, he also delighted in overcoming the attacks.

"Every single person who has attacked me has gone down," Trump said at one of his Florida resorts. He was flanked by tables packed with his retail products, including steaks, bottled water and wine, and defended his business record more thoroughly than he outlined his policy proposals for the country.

Sanders, meanwhile, said Michigan signaled "that we are a national campaign."

"We already have won in the Midwest, New England and the Great Plains and as more people get to know more about who we are and what our views are we're going to do very well," the Vermont senator said in a statement.

While a handful of recent losses to Cruz have raised questions about Trump's durability, Tuesday's contests marked another lost opportunity for rivals desperate to stop his march to the nomination. Next week's winner-take-all contests in Ohio and Florida loom large as perhaps the last chance to block him short of a contested convention fight.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich was in a fight with Cruz for second place in Michigan and hoping a good showing would give him a boost heading into next week's crucial contest in his home state.

For Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Tuesday marked the latest in a series of disappointing nights. He emerged from Michigan and Mississippi with no new delegates, a grim outcome for a candidate who has the overwhelming support from Republican senators, governors and other elected officials.

Rubio insisted he would press on to his home state's primary in Florida next Tuesday.

"It has to happen here, and it has to happen now," Rubio told supporters during a rally in Sarasota.

If Rubio and Kasich can't win at home, the GOP primary appears set to become a two-person race between Trump and Cruz. The Texas senator is sticking close in the delegate count, and with six states in his win column he's argued he's the only candidate standing between the brash billionaire and the GOP nomination.

During a campaign stop at a North Carolina church, Cruz took on Trump for asking rally attendees to pledge their allegiance to him. He said the move struck him as "profoundly wrong" and was something "kings and queens demand" of their subjects.

Some mainstream Republicans have cast both Trump and Cruz as unelectable in a November face-off with the Democratic nominee. But they're quickly running out of options - and candidates -to prevent one of the men from becoming the GOP standard-bearer.

Republicans were also holding a caucus Tuesday in Hawaii.

The economy ranked high on the list of concerns for voters in Michigan and Mississippi. At least 8 in 10 in each party's primary said they were worried about where the American economy is heading, according to exit polls conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press and television networks.

Among Democrats, 8 in 10 voters in both states said the country's economic system benefits the wealthy, not all Americans.

Sanders has sought to tap into that concern, energizing young people and white, blue-collar voters with his calls for breaking up Wall Street banks and making tuition free at public colleges and universities. Michigan, with big college towns and a sizeable population of working-class voters, was a good fit for him, though something of a surprise victory given that Clinton had led in polls heading into Tuesday's voting.

Still, Sanders has struggled mightily with black voters who are crucial to Democrats in the general election. In Mississippi, black voters comprised about two-thirds of the Democratic electorate and nearly 9 in 10 backed Clinton.

After Tuesday's results, Clinton has accumulated 1,214 delegates and Sanders 566, including superdelegates. Democrats need 2,383 delegates to win the nomination.

With Tuesday's wins, Trump leads the Republican field with 428 delegates, followed by Cruz with 315, Rubio with 151 and Kasich with 52. Winning the GOP nomination requires 1,237 delegates.

Ill trade winds

More than half of Democratic and Republican voters in Michigan, along with Republicans in Mississippi, said trade takes away jobs, according to surveys of voters after they cast ballots. In Mississippi, Democratic primary voters were more closely divided, with 4 in 10 saying it takes away jobs and nearly as many thinking it has a positive impact.

Exit polling also found Clinton in Mississippi was supported over Sanders by 9 in 10 black voters, who accounted for nearly two-thirds of Democratic primary voters in the state.

That was yet another stark example of Sanders struggling with black voters.

And Michigan, like previous races, pointed to an age divide for Democrats, with Clinton prevailing with people 45 and older and Sanders leading among those younger than 45.

Hawaii

None of the Republican candidates made the long trip to campaign for the small delegate prize (19) in Hawaii's GOP caucuses. But the Trump-centered debate raging on the mainland played out on the islands, too.

"If candidates are looking to win over the state, then I think they need to be a little bit more open to diversity and a little more centrist about their approach," Beth Fukumoto-Chang, state House Republican leader said recently.

Nathan Paikai, a minister who led Trump's campaign efforts in Hawaii, differed with that opinion.

"There's many people out there who say, 'I don't like the way he talks," Paikai said. "My response is, if it's a soft tone and it's a lie, do you believe it? What does it matter about tone?"