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WashingtonRepublican
and Democratic presidential frontrunners, Donald Trump and Hillary
Clinton, cruised to big victories in the crucial Arizona primary even as
they faced challenges from rivals in other nominating contests.
With his easy victory in Arizona's winner-take-all primary, Trump
added another 58 delegates to his tally of 681 delegates, while closest
rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz with 425 delegates hoped to slow Trump's
momentum with a victory Tuesday in the Utah caucuses.
A strong victory in Utah caucuses with more than 50 percent support
would give Cruz all the state's 40 delegates and help him narrow the gap
with Trump a little in the race for 1,237 delegates needed to win the
Republican nomination.
Cruz is backed in Utah with its sizable Mormon population by the
2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney, who backed Ohio Governor John
Kasich in last week's Ohio primary.
Romney said he would vote for Cruz in Utah as part of an effort to deny Trump the nomination.
"The only path that remains to nominate a Republican rather than Mr.
Trump is to have an open convention," he wrote in a posting on
Facebook.
"At this stage, the only way we can reach an open convention is for
Senator Cruz to be successful in as many of the remaining nominating
elections as possible."
Kasich, who entered the day with 143 delegates handily won his home
state last week despite a strong push by Trump. But that is Kasich's one
and only victory and he seemed unlikely to add to his win total on
Tuesday
Heading into the polls in the shadow of a series of explosions in
Brussels, killing at least 30 people, Trump reiterated his proposal for
an open-ended ban on Muslims entering the US and for using extralegal
means to fight terrorists.
Trump called for torturing Salah Abdeslam, a suspect in November's
terrorist attack on Paris who was captured last week in Belgium.
"You know, he may be talking, but he'll talk a lot faster with torture," he told CNN
Cruz responded to the attack with his own provocative proposal,
calling for law enforcement authorities "to patrol and secure Muslim
neighbourhoods before they become radicalised."
But Kasich was more restrained. "We are not at war with Islam; we're at war with radical Islam," he said.
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Clinton beat rival Bernie Sanders
in the Arizona primary to take at least one of three Democratic
presidential contests Tuesday in Western states.
Arizona was the biggest prize of the night, with 75 of the state's
85 delegates at stake based on the results of Tuesday's primary. Utah
and Idaho also held caucuses Tuesday where a combined 56 delegates were
on the line.<
Speaking in San Diego after Clinton's projected win in Arizona,
Sanders cited "record-breaking turnouts" in states that held contests
Tuesday and said his campaign appealed to voters because "we are telling
the truth.
"We cannot go forward as a nation unless we are prepared to confront the real issues facing our country."