Live Updates: Clinton, Trump Prevail In Big Super Tuesday Contests

The Sanders campaign had eyed Minnesota as a state favorable to their message. The state is very blue and home to Minneapolis-area Rep. Keith Ellison, one of Sanders' most prominent endorsers.

Marco Rubio won a decisive victory in the Minnesota caucuses Tuesday night, his first victory in the Republican presidential primary.

Rubio's campaign has been plagued with questions from detractors and political observers over whether the Florida senator could actually win a state. His victory in Minnesota will put those questions to rest for now, but his path to the nomination remains uncertain.

Clinton Wins Massachusetts, While Bernie Is Projected To Take Colorado

Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders in his own backyard on Tuesday night with a win in the Massachusetts primary, bringing her victory count to seven states.

Sanders, meanwhile, is projected to win the Colorado caucus, a state where his campaign expected him to do well. A victory in Colorado brings his state win count to three.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz attacked Donald Trump and called for the Republican party to "come together" against the real estate mogul in his Super Tuesday victory speech.

"So long as the field remains divided, Donald Trump's path to the nomination remains more likely," Cruz said from the stage in Stafford, Texas after winning that state and Oklahoma. "For those who have supported other candidates, we welcome you on our team, standing united as one. That is the only way to beat Donald Trump."

Cruz called a Trump nomination "a disaster for Republicans," before criticizing him on a number of issues, including Obamacare and the right to bear arms.

"America shouldn't have a president whose words would make you embarrassed if your children repeated them," he said.

Cruz also made the case that his campaign is the only one that "has beaten, can beat, and will beat Trump's … Head to head, our campaign beats Donald Trump resoundingly." —Ellen Cushing

Last week, ex-presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie surprised many when he chose to endorse Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. So on Super Tuesday, Christie introduced Trump in Florida after the real estate mogul won several states. The governor then stood behind Trump as he gave his victory speech. His gloomy demeanor during Trump's talk prompted viewers to wonder: "Governor Christie, u ok?"

Read more here.

—Stephanie McNeal

After a cascade of victories in primaries across the country Tuesday, Donald Trump made a pitch for his ability to build and unite the Republican party.

"Were going to be a much finer party, a unified party, and a much bigger party," Trump said in a long speech that rambled from international trade policy to the Common Core and women's health. "You can see that happening now. Our party is expanding."

Speaking in Florida, the home of Marco Rubio, Trump presented himself as an anti-establishment candidate, butting up against the "special interests and the lobbyists" who he said would push for a Rubio victory in Florida.

Introducing Trump, Chris Christie, who endorsed Trump last week, argued for the candidate's ability to "bring together" both the Republican party and the American people. "This is not a campaign, it's a movement," Christie said. "America wants to come together."

Trump said that he could bring together Americans that are typically outside of the Republican base in a "more diverse" Republican party — those, like women and minorities, who many have said he is in danger of alienating. "We're going to do great with the African Americans," he said. "We're going to do great with the Hispanics and it's because I'm going to create jobs."

Trump also turned his political outsider rhetoric to Hillary Clinton, who he criticized for having been in the political world for decades. "She's been there for a long period of time, why haven't they done anything about it?"

But Trump said repeatedly that he didn't believe Clinton would be allowed to run in the presidential race. "I believe what she did is a criminal act," he said.

"I would like to see the Republican party get together and unify," Trump said. "And when we do, there is nobody — nobody — that can stop us."

Marco Rubio gave an impassioned speech to supporters in his home state of Florida on Super Tuesday, despite having not won a single state as of 9:30 PM ET.

Rubio spent some time praising his fellow Floridians, and said many in his audience understand the American dream because they were raised as first-generation citizens.

"Here in this community we have been raised by people from outside of Florida," he said, later adding, "We know that the things that make America special are not an accident."

He proclaimed that this dream was in "trouble," and called on his supporters to stand up for him to keep the dream alive.

"We are going to send a message that the party of Lincoln and Reagan and the presidency of the United States will never be held by a con artist," he said.

Sticking with the American dream theme, Rubio said that under his leadership, America would thrive and become better than before.

"We will expand it to reach more people than ever," he said.

—Stephanie McNeal

Some eagle-eyed readers caught a hiccup in NBC News' Super Tuesday coverage. Twitter users say that the network tweeted an image of Maryland when it meant to indicate Vermont, prompting some crab-by online comments.

Read more here.

—Stephanie McNeal

Bernie Sanders Gets His Second Victory Of The Night In Oklahoma

Bernie Sanders has won Oklahoma, in his second victory of the night.

The Sanders campaign had targeted Oklahoma as a state where they could make inroads with a working-class electorate that may often vote Republican in a general election.

Hillary Clinton used her victory speech after winning six states on Super Tuesday to attack Donald Trump, all but ignoring her rival for the Democratic nomination for president, Bernie Sanders.

"We know we've got work to do," Clinton told a cheering crowd in Miami, Florida."But that work is not making America great again. America never stopped being great."

Clinton did mention her Democratic rival to congratulate him on his lone victory, but the bulk of her speech was dedicated to creating alternative versions of some of Trump's most recognizable slogans.

"Instead of building walls, we are going to take down barriers!" Clinton said.

Clinton closed her speech by repeating a line that she insists represents her core beliefs.

"I know it may be unusual for a presidential candidate to say this, but I'm going to keep saying it," Clinton said. "I believe what we need in America today is more love and kindness."

Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz each claimed victory in Texas, the state with the most delegates at stake on Tuesday night.

Cruz, the senator from Texas, saw the Lone Star state as a must-win for his campaign. Donald Trump had suggested in recent days that he could win in state, handing Cruz a crushing defeat. Cruz also won Oklahoma, another state where Trump was thought to be competitive.

Clinton's victory reinforces her dominance in the southern portion of the United States.

Donald Trump has won the Republican primary in Virginia.

Virginia brings the businessman's Tuesday win count to five states. His victory in Virginia is expected to be narrow, with Rubio in second place and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in a distant third.

Clinton Wins Arkansas

Clinton has won Arkansas, the state where she was first lady and where the Clinton's have a long history.

Clinton, so far, has won five states and American Samoa on Super Tuesday.

Taking the stage after win in his home state of Vermont, Bernie Sanders told his supporters that he expects to win "hundreds" of delegates Tuesday night.

Although the Sanders campaign does not expect any overwhelming victories on Tuesday night outside of Vermont , the senator reminded his supporters that the Democratic primary system is proportional.

"This is not a general election. It's not winner-take-all. If you get 52%, you get 48%, you roughly end up with the same amount of delegates in a state," he said. "By the end of tonight, we are going to win many hundreds of delegates."

Sanders said it meant a lot to him to win in his home state.

"You know we want to win in every part of the county," Sanders began. "But it means so much that the people who know me best wanted so strongly put us in the White House."

Sanders also addressed one of Hillary Clinton's main criticisms of the Vermont Senator, "I know Secretary Clinton and many of the Establishment … say I am looking and thinking too big! I don't think so."

Clinton has won Alabama and Tennessee, bringing her total victory count to four states and American Samoa. The race is still too close to call in Massachusetts and Oklahoma.

Clinton is hoping for a sweep of Southern states with her overwhelming support from black voters. In tightly-contested Massachusetts, where voters are mostly white and skew more heavily liberal, the Sanders campaign is hoping he can pull off a victory.

Trump Wins Three More States: Alabama, Massachusetts, And Tennessee

Donald Trump has won the Republican contests in Alabama, Massachusetts, and Tennessee, according to the Associated Press.

The businessman earned significant support among evangelicals in the South and blue-collar workers in New England. Trump also picked up an important endorsement from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions on Sunday.

Trump, so far, has won a total of four out of the 11 Super Tuesday contests.

Donald Trump is expected to win the Republican contest in Georgia, CNN, Fox, and NBC News project. At the time CNN projected Trump's victory, the businessmen had earned 40% of the projected vote, against Cruz's 24% and Rubio's 23%.

Trump may have been lifted by irate voters. A CNN exit poll found that 47% of Georgia voters were "angry" and 45% were "dissatisfied."

Clinton is projected to win the Democratic primary in Georgia and Virginia, according to the Associated Press, two states that she lost in 2008 to then-Senator Barack Obama. Sanders has won his home state of Vermont, according to AP projections.

Voter turnout in Georgia was heavily black, according to CNN exit polls, with a majority of black voters in favor of Clinton.

Georgia and Virginia have far more delegates available to pick up than Vermont, which is far less populous and where Sanders would pick up only a handful of delegates even if he wins by a wide margin.

Exit Polls: Majority Of Democratic Voters Want A President With Political Experience

Results are in from ABC's exit polling of Democratic voters across the country:

• A vast majority of Democratic voters want a president with political experience — a contrast to Republicans, who say they want a political outsider.

• More voters say Sanders is trustworthy compared to Clinton, according to polls in five states.

• In most states, voters say they want a continuation of Obama's policies. Only in Vermont, home of Bernie Sanders, do voters want a more liberal agenda.

• Turnout is lower among younger voters and first-time primary voters than experienced veterans and older voters.

• More voters in Southern states, which are heavily black, trust Clinton to fix the problem of worsening race relations in the country.

— Molly Hensley-Clancy

Ohio Gov. Kasich says that he expects Donald Trump to win every state on Super Tuesday, with the possible exception of Texas.

In an interview on Boston Herald Radio Tuesday morning, Kasich was asked about the status of his campaign and his thoughts on Super Tuesday.

"We all believe that Trump is basically gonna sweep everything," Kasich said, "maybe not Texas."

Kasich predicted that he wouldn't be as succesful, but that in future primaries he would be competitive.

"You know, what I'd like to do is pick up some delegates, and then we head north, where you become on my turf," Kasich said, "We go up to Michigan and then the critical state of Ohio, where I will win. And then once Ohio's done it's kinda a whole new ballgame, and then we're up in the north for a while."

Exit Polls: Many Texas Voters Want an Outsider As President

Results for the first exit polls of Republican voters are starting to come in. Here are some of the highlights of an ABC News survey of Texas voters.

• Nearly 40% of those polled want a political outsider as their candidate.
• About the same percentage wants to have a candidate who shares their religious background.
• 60% of those polled identified as evangelicals.
• Around 66% of those polled said they would be "satisfied" with *Cruz — currently one of their senators — as their party's candidate.
• About 60% would be satisfied with Rubio.
• Less than 50% would be satisfied with Trump
• But nearly two out of three of those polled said they would support building a wall along the Mexican border.

—Nicolas Medina Mora

Since January, photos of "IDK Not Trump Tho 2016" campaign signs have been popping up all over and shared on the internet. ... The original photo, which has more than 8,000 retweets and 10,000 likes, was posted by Dave Ross, an LA-based comedian who is behind the "IDK Not Trump Tho" phenomenon. ... "I just thought it was funny and I do a lot of dumb stuff like this," Ross said. "I like merch; the physical creations of jokes." After Ross posted the photo of his sign on Twitter, he said he got 4,000 retweets in the span of two and half hours, and that's when he decided he could sell it.

— Tasneem Nashrulla

Read more here.

Exit Polls: Republicans in Some States Widely Support Banning Muslims

A majority of Republican voters in some Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses are in favor of a temporary ban on Muslim immigration to the U.S., according to a CBS exit poll of nine states.

In Alabama, 78% of those polled want to keep non-citizen Muslims out of the country. In Tennessee, support for the measure was closer to 72%. Among those polled in Georgia, 69% agreed with the proposition. In Texas, 65% were in favor. In Virginia, it was 64%. — Nicolás Medina Mora

The exchange [between Clinton and a young, black Minnesota voter], which ended on a tense note, marked the second time in the span of one week that a voter has confronted Clinton face-to-face about her 1996 speech that referred to young people in gangs as "super-predators." Last week, a Black Lives Matter activist surprised Clinton with a question about the remark during a fundraiser in South Carolina. The exchange, videotaped and shared widely online, has sparked further debate in the election over Clinton's role in and responsibility for '90s criminal justice policy. On Tuesday, the Minneapolis woman mentioned Clinton's "super predator comments," then asked, "Somalis are being stigmatized or criminalized [and] didn't have the chance to get acquainted with being an American. So I wanted to ask you, do you support this? Have you changed?" "Look, first of all that comment was made one time in my life," Clinton said. The candidate could be heard telling the voter that she has "always been in favor" of supporting communities and "giving more people opportunities." The young woman was silent as Clinton spoke. "The first speech I gave in this campaign was about criminal justice reform, including ending profiling, banning the box, doing things that I think would be very helpful —" "How do we know you're going to be accountable to black communities now?" the woman said quickly.

—Ruby Cramer Read more here.

Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, who ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, told BuzzFeed News in an interview on Tuesday that he won't endorse in the primary race but will ultimately support whoever the nominee is, including Donald Trump.

"I have no plans to endorse anyone. I am campaigning vigorously to defeat Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders and especially to keep Virginia in the Republican column and that is what I am doing and why I expect to be campaigning vigorously for the Republican ticket whoever is nominated.

Asked if that included Trump, Gilmore replied, "Yes, who ever is nominated."

"I expect to be campaigning more to prevent Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders from moving the country in that leftist direction," he said. "That's really my goal as opposed to be an advocate for any of the candidates."

"I don't like the direction of her, or Bernie , or the Democratic Party. I think it's bad for the United States, it's hurting the economy, it's hurting people and I think it would very bad for any of them to win the presidency."

Asked if he thought Trump had the nomination locked up Gilmore said, "he certainly looks like he has momentum."

"I certainly think he has an advantage," he added.

Gilmore said this election taught him well-financed candidates have an advantage and that the press only takes candidates seriously who have money.

"The election highlighted the growth of the modern electronic media," he said, saying the RNC outsourced the nomination process to the "electronic media" and that meant the race was about "the show" not the candidate.

Gilmore said the message of votes this year was "anger and "frustration" with their own lives.

And, Gilmore says, the race is too unpredictable to say who wins in Trump v. Clinton.

"How would I know," he said.

— Andrew Kaczynski

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has had a lot of time on his hands since he stopped running for president in September.

Maybe that explains why on Tuesday he tweeted this weird thing…

He was most likely sub-tweeting Donald Trump, who's had some nasty things said about the apparently freakishly small size of his hands.

Twitter being Twitter, the inevitable soon happened.

Read more here. — David Mack

Donald Trump addressed rumors on Tuesday that he would skip the upcoming Republican debate on Thursday, saying that, though debates no longer mean much, he won't skip it.

"I'm not gonna skip it," Trump said. "But I think these debates are ridiculous now. I mean, you get the same answer over and over again. And now it's become a slugfest because these guys are all way, way down and they're not doing very well and they have nothing to lose but I think it's a point where the debates just don't seem to mean very much. It's the same answer over and over again."

In the interview on the Howie Carr Show, Trump also suggested that, if he has a strong showing in Tuesday's primaries, he will begin to turn his attention to Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton and attack her "big league."

"Yeah. If we do well tonight, we're gonna start going after her, big league. Many of the polls are showing that I beat her and I haven't even started on her yet. So we're definitely going to go after her big league."

Trump also responded to recent jabs from Marco Rubio about the size of his hands, saying the size of his hands was "totally normal" and that "some people thought I have very beautiful hands." The real estate tycoon also said he thought Chris Christie, who endorsed him last week, would make a "great attorney general."

—Chris Massie

WASHINGTON — A gleeful Sen. Chuck Schumer said Donald Trump's march toward the GOP nomination on Super Tuesday would show voters the need to give Democrats the majority in the Senate once again.

"If [Trump's] the nominee, every day every Republican candidate is going to be asked, 'Do you agree with him on this? Do you agree with him on that?'" Schumer, the third-ranking Senate Democrat, told reporters after a press conference Tuesday. "They're caught between a rock and a hard place."

"The American people are going to find out that the way to get people to work together is to bring Democrats back in the majority in the Senate and in the White House. That's the only way to go because when (Republicans) are in charge, they're just a mess."

Schumer was happy to detail the dysfunction within the Republican Party when asked on Tuesday, previewing the message Democrats challenging GOP Senate incumbents will use.

"I think the party is in disarray," he said. "The hard right has pulled them in a direction that is not where the American people are. And even the hard right is fighting with the hard right — you have Club for Growth raising money for ads against Donald Trump. All the fracture lines they were able to paper over in the past they can't paper over now...The fault lines are becoming real fissures rather than just cracks." —Tarini Parti

BURLINGTON, Vt. — Perhaps the Vermontiest moment of Bernie Sanders' Vermont-based campaign for president came at noon on Super Tuesday.

That's when the Zero Gravity Craft Brewery on Pine Street here officially debuted Bernie Weisse, "a slightly sour and forward-thinking Berliner Weisse" beer, according to the brewery's promotional materials.

The beer is available in draft and cans for a limited time and is the central hook for Zero Gravity's election watch party Tuesday night. —Evan McMorris-Santoro

Mike Huckabee was one missed flight away from endorsing Donald Trump.

It was the day after February's Iowa caucuses, and Huckabee had just dropped out of the race. He planned to make a quick stop in Little Rock, Arkansas, to drop off his daughter and her family before heading home to Florida. But then a weather-related flight delay left Huckabee with an extra night in Arkansas — and as it just so happened, Trump was coming to town the next day for a rally. The late addition of the Little Rock event to Trump's schedule had already uncorked speculation about a potential Huckabee endorsement, and his spokesman Hogan Gidley had moved swiftly to quash the rumors, telling reporters he was "not even thinking about" backing another candidate. But The Donald was undeterred. According to two people close to Huckabee, Trump tried to lure the former governor to the event by promising he wouldn't have to formally endorse — he could simply stop by, and, if he felt so inspired, say a few words about the issues they both cared about so deeply.

Huckabee was tempted, but Gidley reminded him that he had just emphatically ruled out an endorsement to the press: To show up at a Trump rally now would make liars out of them both, he argued. Huckabee's other advisers were similarly adamant that he skip the event, and ultimately they prevailed. After a quiet night at home with his grandkids, Huckabee hopped the first flight out of town the next morning — but his love affair with Trump lives on.

One month later, Trump is heading toward a Super Tuesday blowout thanks in part to the work of Huckabee's daughter, Sarah, an Arkansas-based Republican strategist who joined the Trump campaign earlier this month.

Read more here.

HOUSTON — Reporters here noticed a sign that used the words "Stop Trump" to make a swastika. The man who made the sign, Francisco Valle, 74, was also holding a sign that showed Trump depicted with an Adolf Hitler mustache and the slogan "Absolutely No Mexicans."

"I am here because I want to make awareness of a movement that is very dangerous to all the minorities because Hitler started the same way," Valle said. "He blamed the Jews for all the problems and now Trump is blaming the Mexicans for the problems."

Valle answered some questions from Spanish-speaking reporters in Spanish. William Bruso, 43, in a cowboy hat and carrying a Cruz sign, interjected.

"Since most of us here speak English can you repeat what you just said in English for everyone to understand, sir?" Bruso said. "This is America you know." Shortly thereafter, someone stepped in and led Bruso away.

— Rosie Gray

HOUSTON — Ted Cruz voted today at his polling place here at the West Gray Multiservice Center, wading through a crowd of supporters and reporters with his wife Heidi and young daughters Caroline and Catherine.

Cruz, who is banking on a win in Texas during the Super Tuesday primaries tonight, told reporters beforehand that it would be a "real problem" for any candidate not to win their home state.

"I believe we're gonna do very, very well here in Texas," Cruz said. "It's gonna be up to Texans to make their decision. But there is no doubt that any candidate who cannot win his home state has real problems."

While Cruz is leading in polls in Texas, his rival Marco Rubio is consistently behind Donald Trump in polling in his home state of Florida.

"I think it's time to start thinking about coming together and unifying and presenting a clear choice," Cruz said. He predicted large delegate hauls for himself and Trump, who is expected to sweep most of Super Tuesday, and a significant drop-off in the number of delegates gained by the rest of the field — though he didn't refer to Rubio by name.

Cruz went in to vote, showing his ID and spelling his name as the press pack trailed him. Other voters from the neighborhood were also in line to vote, both Republicans and Democrats.

"Ted Cruz in there?" one Democratic voter asked. "I really hope that dude loses."

— Rosie Gray

During a last-minute visit to Minnesota on Super Tuesday, Hillary Clinton repudiated Donald Trump as a candidate with "deplorable views," characterizing his recent refusal to disavow past endorsements from a KKK leader and white supremacist as the sort of "bigotry" she would "continue to speak out about."

"I was very disappointed that he did not disavow what appears to be support from David Duke and the Klan," Clinton said, answering questions from reporters in a packed Mapps Cafe.

The comments were Clinton's first detailed remarks about Trump's saying he did not know anything about Duke in an interview with CNN. "That is exactly the kind of statement that should be repudiated upon hearing it," she said. "We can't let organizations and individuals that hold deplorable views about what it means to be an American be given any credence at all."

The drop-by was the first of stops Clinton made in Minneapolis on Tuesday, flying more than 1,000 miles from Virginia to meet with voters here before the caucuses begin in the evening.

Asked if she believed that Trump would certainly be the Republican nominee, Clinton said she didn't know. "I think that's going to be up to the Republicans. I don't have any real insight into their thought process. Obviously he's done very well. He could be on the path. Maybe somebody else could intervene and rise above that. I'm going to wait and see who they nominate. I think everyone of them has views and have made comments that are deeply troubling to what I want to see our country stand for.

"So whoever they nominate, I'll be prepared to run against them if I'm so fortunate to be the nominee."

But in recent days, Clinton has directly and indirectly framed her remarks toward Trump after her blowout victory in South Carolina. Why is she turning her attention to Trump, then?

"I'm just speaking out against bigotry and bullying wherever I hear it," Clinton said. "And I hear a lot of it from the Republican candidate. They seem to have forgotten completely about issues and they're now running their campaigns based on insults. It's turned into a kind of one-upmanship on insulting and I don't think that's appropriate in a presidential campaign and I'm going to speak up on it. But I'm going to let them choose their nominee. And if I'm fortunate enough to be the Democratic nominee then I'll turn my attention."

"I'm going to continue to speak out about bigotry wherever I see it or hear about it. I wish every everybody, not just those running for president," she said, "would do the same."

–Ruby Cramer in Minneapolis

A New York appeals court ruled against Donald Trump Tuesday and denied his bid to toss out a lawsuit filed by state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman claiming fraud at the now-defunct Trump University.

Trump's lawyers claimed the lawsuit, filed in 2013, should be tossed because the statute of limitations on the case had expired. An appeals court said the attorney general is "authorized to bring a cause of action for fraud." Emails to Trump's campaign were not immediately returned.

"Today's decision is a clear victory in our effort to hold Donald Trump and Trump University accountable for defrauding thousands of students," Schneiderman said in a statement Tuesday. "As the state's chief law enforcement officer, my job is to see that perpetrators of fraud are brought to justice. We look forward to demonstrating in a court of law that Donald Trump and his sham for-profit college defrauded more than 5,000 consumers out of millions of dollars."

Read more here.

—Mary Ann Georgantopoulos

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said he doesn't know whether or not Donald Trump is a racist and that, if Trump is his party's nominee, he doesn't know whether he'll be able to vote for him.

In an interview with radio host John Howell, Kinzinger criticized Trump for refusing to disavow David Duke and the Ku Klux Klan. Howell interjected, asking Kinzinger if he thought Trump was in fact a racist.

"I don't know. I don't know with Trump anymore to be honest with you," Kinzinger responded. "You look at, you know, calling Hispanics rapists; making fun of women; making fun of people with disabilities like he did with that reporter. I don't think he's an outright racist, but at the same time I don't know what the guy believes. Because he's been all over the board and all over the map. You know what? If you asked me, 'hey Adam, what's your feelings about David Duke?' it wouldn't take me but two seconds to respond emphatically that he's not anything I want to associate with."

Kinzinger went on to say that, if Trump is the Republican nominee, he isn't sure he could vote for him.

"I'm even more sure that I don't know if I can vote for him. Obviously if he's the nominee, and it looks like it's a possibility, I'd like to come around to support him," Kinzinger said. "Just because I'm a Republican I'm not necessarily gonna get behind him."

Kinzinger clarified though, that he wouldn't be voting for Hillary Clinton.

— Nate McDermott

WASHINGTON -- One of the most vocal GOP critics of Donald Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham, said on Super Tuesday he was "running out of adjectives" to bash the billionaire.

"I think it's pretty clear that people in my party have risen to the occasion generally when it comes to denouncing Mr. Trump," he told reporters.

"I'm running of adjectives," he added with a laugh.

In recent weeks, Graham has said his party has gone "batshit crazy" and said Republicans will "get slaughtered" if Trump is the nominee.

When asked Tuesday about Republicans still insisting they will support the GOP nominee as they denounce Trump's comments, Graham said: "Talk to me after the convention, and we'll see how we can cross that bridge." —Tarini Parti

Brimming with confidence and bravado, Donald Trump appeared before a raucous crowd of thousands on Tuesday in Columbus, Ohio, despite voters there not heading to the polls for two more weeks.

As Republican voters in 11 other states headed to the polls, Trump told his supporters he expected a big win on Super Tuesday.

"Today's such a big day, and I shouldn't be here. I should be thinking about tonight, but Ohio is so important to me," Trump said. "Winning Ohio is so important. It's going to send a signal like nothing else."

His speech to supporters covered the standard Trump fare — trade, the Iran deal, drugs, crime, the economy, gun rights, and religious freedom — but when he discussed his signature policy of building a wall on the Mexican border he had a special message for the former Mexican presidents who have criticized him publicly.

"That wall is getting taller with every interview these ex-presidents do," he said. "It's getting taller, taller."

Trump vowed to return to Ohio many times before voters there head to the polls on March 15. — David Mack

Marco Rubio is upset with the state of American political coverage, saying candidates have to attack their opponent to get coverage.

"I've actually laid out and given in-depth speeches and talks about Social Security and Medicare, about the debt, about the military, about taxes, regulation, you name it," Rubio told radio host Erick Erickson on Monday. "None of that gets covered, it gets like a brief little mention. You say one little thing that attacks somebody else they love it, they jump all over it. I think it's a testament to the sad state of American political coverage."

In recent days, Rubio has made jokes about Donald Trump's hair, hands, and penis.

Why Is Anyone Still Doing Caucuses?

Few things in modern electoral politics go as predictably, publicly badly as a high-profile caucuses in America. For people like Cosgrove — interested in fair, well-attended, and fraud-free elections — the caucus system just doesn't cut it.

"Caucuses are generally low turnout affairs, which can disenfranchise disabled voters, voters who have to work, and those who have to travel," Rick Hasen, an law professor who mans the Election Law Blog, told BuzzFeed News.

"If we think of these things as elections, they're very hard to defend," Rob Ritchie, president of the voter advocacy group FairVote, told BuzzFeed News.

This year's already offered three disastrous (or nearly disastrous) examples.

First, the "virtual tie" in Iowa between Bernie Sanders and Clinton in Iowa. There were a number of problems: There weren't enough volunteers; some precincts decided their winners with coin tosses; the results are still under review a month later. (The Republican Iowa caucus this time went more smoothly, but in 2012, the wrong winner was initially declared.)

Former New Hampshire Senator and Governor Judd Gregg, a prominent endorser of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, said Trump would only lose a one-on-one race — something he doesn't expect to happen.

"He hasn't been challenged in a one-on-one race and it doesn't look like he will be," said Gregg on Boston Herald Radio on Tuesday. "I fully expect he'll do very well today, I suspect he'll carry every state maybe except Texas and Arkansas and the'll move on to the 15th, which is some winner take all states. And if he wins Florida obviously Rubio's in trouble. That would mean point, set, match for Rubio if he were to win Florida."

"He's in a unique position and he's playing his cards well and he's a very good showman and he's the captured the wave of anger and frustration," he said. —Andrew Kaczynski

BuzzFeed News reporter Rosie Gray is at the event, follow her on Twitter here.

A letter in the Financial Times Tuesday attracted attention online because it was written by a liberal couple who said they were considering voting for Donald Trump, even though "we are not the sans-culottes you see as the prototypical Trump voter."

In the letter, Jon and Elsa Sands, who describe themselves as socially liberal affluent Americans, believe Trump is the only option even as they compare voting for him to voting for a "tameable Hitler in 1933."

Elsa Sands, 65, told BuzzFeed News that she and her Harvard-educated husband, Jon, are not the "nutcases" that the media makes out Trump voters to be.

Sands, who teaches English to refugees and described herself as a big supporter of refugee resettlement, said that even though Trump is a "big jerk, brash, over the top and egomaniacal" he was also a "big-mouth pragmatist who can get things done."

She said that with a "corrupt Hillary, silly little Rubio, and mean-spirited Ted Cruz," they have "nowhere else to go" besides Trump, even though she admitted she was nervous about considering voting for him.

"It's a very scary hope, if we vote for him, that he might be pragmatic and listen to advisers," Sands said. "It's a sorry state we've come to that we have Trump running out there and we're considering voting for him."

— Tasneem Nashrulla

Donald Trump, accompanied by Megan Mullally, performed the theme song to "Green Acres" at the 2005 Emmy Awards. For the performance, the Television Academy requested that Trump wear a very specific garment: overalls. Trump, speaking to the Howard Stern Show in September 2005 about the performance, said he had never heard of overalls before.

—Andrew Kaczynski

Read more here.

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan on Tuesday criticized Donald Trump for not immediately disavowing support from white supremacists.

During a Sunday interview with CNN, Trump claimed not to know of former KKK leader David Duke, who has endorsed him for president. "You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about," he said when asked of his KKK support. Trump later blamed his response on a bad earpiece, but his remarks were criticized heavily by Republicans and Democrats alike.

Speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Speaker Ryan did not mention Trump by name, but condemned racism in the election race:

As you know I try to stay out of the day-to-day ups and downs of the primary, but I've also said that when I see something that runs counter to who we are as a party and as a country I will speak up. So, today I want to be very clear about something: If a person wants to be the nominee of the Republican party there can be no evasion and no games. They must reject any group or cause that is built on bigotry. This party does not prey on people's prejudices. We appeal to their highest ideals. This is the party of Lincoln. We believe all people are created equal in the eyes of God and our government. This is fundamental, and if someone wants to be our nominee they must understand this. I hope this is the last time I need to speak out on this race.

Ryan told reporters he planned to support the nominee Republican voters nominate for the presidency.

— David Mack

A fake New York Times story that falsely suggested Sen. Elizabeth Warren had endorsed her colleague Bernie Sanders for president has been taken down from the website on which it was created.

The article, which had been fabricated on Monday using the website Clone Zone to mimic the newspaper's style and font, was viewed by tens of thousands of people on Facebook, according to the (real) New York Times.

"An article circulating on social media tonight that is made to resemble a New York Times story and says Elizabeth Warren endorsed Bernie Sanders is a fake and has no connection to the Times," said Matthew Purdy, a deputy executive editor, in a statement.

Warren, a beloved figure for many liberal Democrats, has yet to endorse any candidate in the primary.

The newspaper had asked Clone Zone to remove the article, and on Tuesday the fake URL led to a page saying the content had been removed due to a "cease and desist order."

— David Mack

People have begun casting ballots on the biggest day of the 2016 primary season: Super Tuesday.

Democrats and Republicans will be holding ballots or caucuses in 11 states each today (across a total of 12 separate states) — with Democrats also voting in American Samoa and overseas.

Some 1,460 delegates are up for grabs today (595 for Republicans, and 865 for Democrats), with the results having the potential to deal a boost or a death blow to certain campaigns.

Here's where Democrats will be voting:

• Alabama
• Arkansas
• Colorado (caucus)
• Georgia
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota (caucus)
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia
• American Samoa (caucus)
• Democrats Abroad (registered Democrats who live overseas)

And Republicans:

• Alabama
• Alaska (caucus)
• Arkansas
• Georgia
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota (caucus)
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Vermont
• Virginia

— David Mack

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Midway through her speech here in Massachusetts, just one day before critical Super Tuesday contests in this state and 10 others, Hillary Clinton came around to a topic she's relied on during the tightest points in the race.

"Yes, I am gonna take on the gun lobby," she told the crowd in Springfield.

Had this been a rally four weeks ago, voters here might've heard all about Bernie Sanders and what Clinton has argued is his moderate record on gun control and his limited view of what it means to be a progressive. But not on Monday.

"This is to me one of the principal differences between me and my opponent — but it's more than that," she said, moving on.

In the final push to Super Tuesday, propelled by a massive win in South Carolina on Saturday, Clinton has cut back drastically on references to her Democratic rival.

Trump appeared on Good Morning America this morning, where he was asked if he would "make a clear and unequivocal statement renouncing the support of all white supremacists."

Trump responded: "Of course, I am. I mean, there's nobody that's done so much for equality as I have. You take a look at Palm Beach, Florida, I built the Mar-a-Lago Club, totally open to everybody; a club that frankly set a new standard in clubs and a new standard in Palm Beach and I've gotten great credit for it. That is totally open to everybody. So, of course, I am."

BURLINGTON, Vermont — An upbeat Bernie Sanders cast his presidential primary ballot on Tuesday shortly after the polls opened in the state that launched his political career.

"I will tell you after a lot of thought, I voted for me for president," Sanders told a fellow voter who asked Sanders for a selfie.

Vermont is one of the Super Tuesday states and is, unsurprisingly, the one state the Sanders campaign considers a lock. Across the country, Sanders is competing to win in five of the 11 states casting Democratic ballots today. His campaign has all but written off the states in the deep South where Hillary Clinton is expected to do very well.

On Monday night, aboard Sanders' campaign plane flying between Boston and Burlington, Sanders' wife Jane Sanders acknowledged that Super Tuesday is an uphill climb, calling the collection of states "a tough map" for Sanders.

After casting his ballot Tuesday morning, Bernie Sanders was in an upbeat mood.

"We're feeling great," he told reporters.

— Evan McMorris-Santoro

First Votes Cast Overseas As Super Tuesday Begins

Just after midnight local time Tuesday, American voters living in New Zealand gathered at a bar to cast the first votes of Super Tuesday.

The voters, who are registered as Democrats, cast their ballots at the Public Bar and Eatery in Wellington.

A total of 28 votes were placed in the local pub. Bernie Sanders received 21 votes, while Hillary Clinton earned six, the Associated Press reported.

Democrats in 41 other countries will also cast votes on Super Tuesday. Republicans living abroad will not be able to vote, because there is not a similar system set up for the party.

MILTON, Massachusetts — Bernie Sanders took the stage in front of a raucous, fired up crowd in a high school gym here Monday night.

As he spoke, the final small dollar donations were pouring into his website on the way to an awe-inspiring fundraising month that was on track to see him raise $40 million.

A few minutes into his speech, around 7:30 p.m. ET, a Sanders campaign fundraising page showed his campaign had crossed the $40 million threshold. At the start of the day, his campaign had raised $36 million.

The one-day fundraising push pulled in $4 million in largely small-dollar donations. A quick calculation of the total divided by the more than 1.3 million donors listed on the site showed the average donation was under $30.

The fundraising page was reset after the $40 million threshold was met. The new goal for February: $45 million.

– Evan McMorris-Santoro

Donald Trump Jr. said on Monday that, when his father Donald Trump is elected president, the country will be a meritocracy.

"We're gonna have people, we're gonna motivate people, who have actually been successful in life to take on government jobs and to take real positions," said Trump Jr. on the Virginia radio station WSVA. "As opposed to saying, well, this person has exactly 3 more hours of tenure than this person and while he's incompetent, we're gonna promote because it's his turn. That nonsense is over. It's gonna be a meritocracy, as it should be."

Trump Jr., the executive vice president of his father's company, the Trump Organization, also said his father would "make America efficient again."

"The establishment's gonna do whatever they can to try to stop him because they know their little party's over," he said. "Their little coterie where they all pretend to do stuff for the people and they all have their high-paying jobs and they fly around everywhere privately. That stuffs all over under his watch."

— Chris Massie

BOSTON — Bernie Sanders urged voters to heed the words of one of his most prominent Hollywood surrogates on Monday.

Hours before voting was set to begin in the Super Tuesday states, Sanders briefly spoke with reporters outside his campaign plane here ahead of a large rally scheduled for Milton Monday night.

As he does before every election day, Sanders said turnout was the key to doing well in the five Super Tuesday states his campaign is actively competing in.

He urged voters to heed the words of Big Short director Adam McKay, a Sanders backer who boosted the Bernie message on stage at the Oscars Sunday night.

"As Adam McKay pointed out at the Oscars last night, if we want to have a government that is not controlled by the billionaires, then we should not be voting for candidates who receive substantial sums of money from Wall Street and the fossil fuel industry," Sanders said. "I have a lot of respect for Sec. Clinton, but I don't think real change comes about when your super PAC is getting millions of dollars from Wall Street, from the drug companies and from the fossil fuel industry."

"Real change comes about when millions of people...step up and demand a government that represents all of us and not just the 1%," Sanders said.

–Evan McMorris-Santoro in Boston

Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and Mitt Romney on Monday called for Donald Trump and the New York Times to release tape of an off-the-record interview the billionaire businessman conducted with the newspaper on his immigration views. Their comments came after BuzzFeed News revealed The Times is sitting on tape of Trump that some staffers believe could deal a massive blow to the candidate's campaign for president. The interview conducted on Jan. 5 included an off-the-record segment in which sources said Trump revealed a degree of flexibility in his otherwise hardline stance on immigration. The New York Times would not comment on the interview.

— David Mack

Read more here.

The New York Times is sitting on an audio recording that some of its staff believes could deal a serious blow to Donald Trump who, in an off-the-record meeting with the newspaper, called into question whether he would stand by his own immigration views.

Trump visited the paper's Manhattan headquarters on Tuesday, Jan. 5, as part of a round of editorial board meetings that — as is traditional — the Democratic candidates for president and some of the Republicans attended. The meetings, conducted partly on the record and partly off the record in a 13th floor conference room, give candidates a chance to make their pitch for the paper's endorsement.

After a dispute over Trump's suggestion of tariffs on Chinese goods, the Times released a portion of the recording. But that was from the on-the-record part of the session.

On Saturday, columnist Gail Collins, one of the attendees at the meeting (which also included editor-in-chief Dean Baquet), floated a bit of speculation in her column:

"The most optimistic analysis of Trump as a presidential candidate is that he just doesn't believe in positions, except the ones you adopt for strategic purposes when you're making a deal," Collins wrote. "So you obviously can't explain how you're going to deport 11 million undocumented immigrants, because it's going to be the first bid in some future monster negotiation session."

Sources familiar with the recording and transcript — which have reached near-mythical status at the Times — tell me that the second sentence is a bit more than speculation. It reflects, instead, something Trump said about the flexibility of his hard-line anti-immigration stance.

Read more here.

—Ben Smith

Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida told BuzzFeed News in an interview on Monday that he will endorse Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

Grayson, who is also a superdelegate, decided his endorsement after asking his supporters to take part in an online poll to determine who he should support. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Sanders, who received 84% of the 376,000 votes cast.

"We deliberately structured this so people could not only vote and but also gave their reasons," Grayson said. "The overarching theme of the comments was that the country is in desperate need of a revolution to combat inequality, and only Bernie Sanders is attempting a revolution that is likely to succeed. He is the only candidate giving voice to the deep anxiety people feel about the economy and widening income inequality."

Read more here.

— Nate McDermott

Trump, when asked by CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday to "unequivocally condemn" David Duke and the KKK, said he didn't know enough about them to do so. In an interview with TODAY, Trump attributed his answer to a bad earpiece.

"I'm sitting in a house in Florida, with a very bad earpiece that they gave me, and you could hardly hear what he was saying," Trump said. "What I heard was 'various groups.' And I don't mind disavowing anybody, and I disavowed David Duke, and I disavowed him the day before at a major news conference which is surprising because he was, CNN was at the major news conference, and they heard me very easily disavow David Duke."

He continued, "Now I go, and I sit down again. I have a lousy earpiece that is provided by them, and frankly he talked about groups, he also talked about groups. And I have no problem with disavowing groups but I least like to know who they are. It would be very unfair to disavow a group Matt, if the group shouldn't be disavowed."

Read more here.

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ted Cruz again criticized Donald Trump for his refusal Sunday to reject the endorsement of a former Ku Klux Klan leader — and also raised the issue of the robo-calls that white nationalists who support Trump have been doing.

"I will say, watching Donald's interview when he repeatedly declined to denounce the KKK, declined to denounce David Duke, I thought that was unfortunate, particularly when layered upon the fact that white nationalist groups were doing robo-calls urging people to vote for Donald Trump and telling people 'Don't vote for the Cubans in this race,"' Cruz told reporters on Sunday evening.

A white nationalist PAC unaffiliated with Trump's campaign has been making robo-calls in Minnesota and Vermont against the "Cubans" in the race, Cruz and Marco Rubio.

"Listen, there's always been ugly elements of politics and no candidate can control what outside groups do," he told reporters, "but in my view racism and bigotry has no place in politics and we should all be united in saying that the Klan is reprehensible and has no place in politics."

–Rosie Gray

OKLAHOMA CITY — Ahead of Tuesday's key Alabama primary, Sen. Jeff Sessions — the immigration hardliner — says he's backing Donald Trump.

The endorsement is a huge blow to Ted Cruz, who Sessions was also known to be considering endorsing. Cruz often speaks in glowing terms about his relationship with Sessions on the trail, describing standing "shoulder to shoulder" with him against the Gang of 8 immigration reform bill in 2013.

Cruz has still not been endorsed by any of his colleagues in the Senate.

Asked about the news minutes after it began to leak out on Twitter, Cruz told reporters in Oklahoma City that he would "wait to comment on endorsements until they actually happen rather than to comment on speculation of endorsements."

A Sessions endorsement would have been a key pickup for Cruz ahead of the so-called "SEC primary" on Super Tuesday this week, which includes several southern states. The endorsement, coming on the heels of Chris Christie's endorsement of Trump, cements Trump's dominance in the race ahead of Super Tuesday, where he is likely to sweep nearly everywhere.

–Rosie Gray

Sen. Jeff Sessions on Sunday endorsed Donald Trump at a rally in Alabama.

In front of a crowd of thousands, Sessions said he believed Trump could bring the changes that Americans have for years demanded.

"I am pleased to endorse Donald Trump for the presidency," Sessions said.

Sessions cited Trump's positions on immigration and international trade.

"In my opinion, my best judgement in this time in Amercian history, we need to make America great again," Sessions said as the crowd began chanting USA.

The Republican from Alabama, considered one of the most conservative members of Congress, is Trump's first Senate endorsement. Sessions' approval comes days after Trump received his first endorsements from members of the House: Rep. Duncan Hunter of California and Rep. Chris Collins of New York.

Trump also received endorsements from Maine Gov. Paul LePage and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, his former opponent for the Republican presidential nomination.

A report that the Kochs and their political donor network will funnel money to Rubio if he wins Florida to stop Trump got a lot of attention.

A spokesman for the network said it's not true and the Koch network "does not plan to engage" in the primary.

Read more here. — Tarini Parti

OKLAHOMA CITY — Moments before Bernie Sanders stepped on stage to address a large crowd at the ​Cox Convention Center Arena here Sunday, his campaign account tweeted about Donald Trump and the Ku Klux Klan. Trump declined to condemn the KKK in a CNN interview earlier in the day, and the Sanders campaign — which has stepped up its attacks on Trump in recent days — took the opportunity to knock him again. The Clinton campaign quickly retweeted the Sanders tweet.

— Evan McMorris-Santoro

Read more here.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — "This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice."

Speaking from the lectern at Greater Imani Church Cathedral of Faith on Sunday morning, Hillary Clinton began her final push to win Super Tuesday support here with a message of unity, empathy, and understanding. The day after her resounding win in the South Carolina primary, with just 48 hours until the March 1 contests, Clinton flew to Memphis to address two predominantly black congregations.

At both church stops, Clinton expanded on an appeal for togetherness that lay at the heart of her South Carolina victory speech. "My goal in running for president is to break down every barrier that holds any American belt from achieving his or her God-given potential," she told voters at Greater Imani, where the Rev. Bill Adkins introduced her as "our next president" to cheers from the congregants.

Meanwhile, as calls of yes and amen sounded from the pews at Greater Imani, Donald Trump was making the talk show rounds. By mid-morning, the Republican Party frontrunner would refuse to denounce endorsements from a former KKK leader and explain his retweet of a Mussolini quote as "a very good quote."

Clinton did not reference the comments directly in her speeches on Sunday. But in South Carolina and in Tennessee — referencing the infamous "Make America Great Again" slogan — Clinton sought to cast herself as the anti-Trump. This latest pitch to voters, her aides have suggested, would carry over into a general election.

Read more here

Cruz And Rubio Hit Trump For Refusing To Condemn The Ku Klux Klan

Asked on Sunday morning if he would "unequivocally condemn" former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, Donald Trump said he couldn't condemn a group or person he knew nothing about.

Duke, who has expressed support for Trump's candidacy throughout the election, urged his radio listeners last week to volunteer and support Trump, saying a vote against Trump is "treason to your heritage."

Asked to condemn Duke by CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday, Trump said, "I don't know, did he endorse me or what's going on, because, you know, I know nothing about David Duke. I know nothing about white supremacists. And so you're asking me a question that I'm supposed to be talking about people that I know nothing about."

Trump added, "You wouldn't want me to condemn a group that I know nothing about. I would have to look. If you would send me a list of the groups, I will do research on them. And, certainly, I would disavow if I thought there was something wrong."

Read more here.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who on Friday endorsed Donald Trump for president, faced tough questions on Sunday morning about whether he supported Trump's specific proposals.

Faced with video clips of his own past statements disagreeing with Trump on several issues — including the border wall with Mexico, Trump's proposed Muslim ban, and entitlements — Christie admitted that he still disagreed with Trump on some things.

"You know, I tell voters this all the time, if you want to vote for the candidate who you agree with 100% of the time, go home and look in the mirror. You're the only person you agree with 100% of the time, whether it's you or me," Christie said on ABC's This Week.

"So you can — we can sit here this morning and play the game of everything that — I ran against the guy, so of course there's things that I disagree with him on. But this is now a choice. And of the candidates remaining on that stage, he is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton, which is job one for Republicans," he continued.

Christie dismissed the differences in policy as "minor disagreements" compared to disagreements Republicans have with Clinton.

ROCHESTER, Minnesota — Bernie Sanders tried to find some good news in his crushing defeat in the South Carolina primary when he appeared on the Sunday political talk shows from his hotel room here. He also acknowledged just how crushing the 74% to 26% loss in South Carolina was. "We got decimated, George. We got decimated," Sanders told George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week. "The only positive thing for us is we won the actually — the 29 years of age and younger vote. And that was good. But we got killed." On This Week, Sanders telegraphed more Super Tuesday defeats among black voters in the day's southern primaries, but suggested black voters outside the region would be more likely to support him. "I think you're going to see us doing — and I think the polls indicated it, much better within the African-American community outside of the Deep South," Sanders said. "You're going to see us much better in New York state where I think we have a shot to win, in California and in Michigan."

— Evan McMorris-Santoro

Read more here.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii endorsed Bernie Sanders for president Sunday morning, citing his judgement and foresight on military intervention as the central reason for her decision.

Gabbard also announced she would resign her post as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, which earlier this month she cited as precluding her from making an endorsement. She made the announcement on Meet the Press.

A combat veteran who did tours in Iraq, Gabbard said she knew first hand the cost of war. "I see it in my friends, who now after a decade after we've come home, are still struggling, to get out of a black hole," she said.

Gabbard continued, "I think it's most important to us, as we look at our choices as to who our next commander-in-chief will be, is to recognize the necessity to have a commander-in-chief who has foresight, who exercises good judgment, who looks beyond the consequences — who looks at the consequences of the actions they're looking to take before they take those actions so that we don't continue to find ourselves in these failures that have resulted in chaos in the Middle East, and so much lost of life."

Sanders notably voted against war authorization in Iraq in 2002, while Hillary Clinton voted for the war — a contrast Sanders has used to attack Clinton's judgement when it comes to foreign policy.

On Meet the Press, moderator Chuck Todd asked Gabbard if she felt Sanders had a "military mindset."

Gabbard responded, "From what I've seen, from talking with him, and from his record, he does. And what that military mindset means is, you go through an analysis process. As you're looking at potential courses of action that you're going to take, and how and when we use our military power, and just as importantly, when we don't use that military power, that military mindset says that you have foresight. You look at, what are the results, what are the consequences of these actions, how will other actors in the area react to those actions, what will we then do. And you look, continue down the line, so you know exactly what you're potentially getting yourself into before you make that decision, that ends up costing us lives and treasure."

Ted Cruz released four years' worth of tax returns on Saturday, two days after promising to do so during the debate on Thursday.

He released only the first two pages of his tax returns for each year, though. The returns show that Cruz and his wife Heidi Cruz made $1.2 million in 2014 and paid $442,701 in taxes. They do not indicate how much the Cruzes spent in charitable contributions, and do not show how much of the Cruz family's income has come from Heidi Cruz, a Goldman Sachs investment manager who is currently on leave during the campaign.

...

Cruz said it raises "serious ethical issues" that Donald Trump has not released any tax returns.

Cruz referenced Mitt Romney's suggestion that there could be a "bombshell" in Trump's returns, and speculated that it could be that Trump is "embarrassed" to reveal that he isn't as rich as he says he is, or that he is worried about legal exposure for the years for which he is being audited. (Trump said during the debate on Thursday that he doesn't want to release his returns because he is being audited, though he didn't know exactly which years). Cruz also raised the question of whether there could be "irregularities" or "fraud."

Clinton Coasts to Victory in South Carolina

Rep. Jim Clyburn approached the podium, looked out across the room, lifted his 75-year-old arms to the air, cracked a smile, and started to dance. "Happy" by Pharrell was playing on on the loudspeakers.

The crowd went wild. Clyburn was happy. Supporters were happy. Everyone was happy. And by the time she joined him on stage, even Hillary Clinton seemed happy. South Carolina voters, particularly black voters, delivered the big, resounding win that she and her team have wanted badly. Clinton beat Bernie Sanders here by 47 points — and by 72 points among black voters.

The victory carried with it some combination of relief and excitement — a cautious hope that the campaign, after 10 months, might finally start to click. In the volleyball gymnasium at the University of South Carolina, Saturday's rally showed a candidate with deeper confidence, a campaign message newly refined and reframed, and a staff given over to a moment of genuine feeling and commitment.

One campaign aide described the mood simply as "jubilant."

More from the South Carolina primary:

The Bernie Sanders campaign explained the Vermont senator's support for the 1994 crime bill on Thursday with a release saying he voted for the bill in part because it contained a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons.

"The House version of the bill included a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons," the release said. "Sanders had supported the ban since 1988."

The House version of the bill, which passed the House that April and which Sanders has been criticized for voting for when he was a representative from Vermont, did not include an assault weapons ban.

The ban was in the version of the bill that passed the Senate. Sanders ultimately did vote for the bill with the ban in it, and President Bill Clinton signed it into law.

At a campaign event in Georgia on Saturday, Marco Rubio hit back at Donald Trump's recent insults about his makeup and excessive sweat with barbs about the billionaire's hair, spray tan, and Twitter typos.

Responding to Trump's comments about Rubio putting on piles of makeup "with a trowel" during Friday's debate, the Florida senator told a cheering crowd, "You guys want to have a little fun today?"

Donald Trump Said A Lot Of Gross Things About Women On “Howard Stern”

Donald Trump's rise toward the Republican nomination has been fueled, in part, by his candid and often crude style — more Howard Stern, say, than Mitt Romney.

And the roots of Donald Trump's rhetoric come, in fact, in part from The Howard Stern Show. Trump appeared upwards of two dozen times from the late '90s through the 2000s with the shock jock, and BuzzFeed News has listened to hours of those conversations, which are not publically available. The most popular topic of conversation during these appearances, as is typical of Stern's program, was sex. In particular, Trump frequently discussed women he had sex with, wanted to have sex with, or wouldn't have sex with if given the opportunity. He also rated women on a 10-point scale.

"A person who is very flat-chested is very hard to be a 10," he told Stern in one typical exchange.