Donald Trump was already looking beyond Tuesday's contest to a general election matchup with Hillary Clinton. (File photo)
Washington:
An increasingly confident Donald Trump seeks to trounce rival Ted Cruz on Tuesday in Indiana and stake his claim to the Republican US presidential nomination, as the billionaire trains his sights on presumptive Democratic standard-bearer Hillary Clinton.
The "stop Trump" movement faces a moment of truth in the Midwestern state, where Cruz's campaign is struggling to win over voters ahead of a potentially decisive primary.
"We are going to win," Trump told CNN early Monday.
The real estate mogul told a rally in Indiana that his campaign was soaring "like a rocket ship," and that with a new NBC poll showing him 15 percentage points ahead of his main challenger Cruz he was all but assured of winning the state.
"If we win Indiana, it's over," he said in Terre Haute.
Cruz was counting on Indiana acting as a Trump firewall, blocking him from receiving the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July.
The Texas senator has openly stated his goal is to snatch the nomination on a second ballot, when most delegates become free to vote for whomever they choose -- but which will only be held if Trump falls short of a majority.
Trump has so far amassed 1,002 delegates, according to CNN's tally. He now needs just under half of the 502 in play in the remaining 10 contests in order to secure the nomination on the first ballot in Cleveland.
Indiana's winner-takes-all primary could hand the frontrunner 57 in one swoop.
With momentum favoring Trump -- he has won the last six contests -- Cruz put on a brave face, telling reporters "the stakes are enormously high" and that he would stay in the race regardless of the Indiana outcome.
"I am in for the distance," Cruz said. "As long as we have a viable path to victory, I am competing to the end."
Should the conservative senator fall short in Indiana, even his supporters see an extremely steep road ahead.
If Trump sweeps the state "it could be over," former Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler acknowledged on MSNBC.
In that scenario, Trump would need just 39 percent of remaining delegates in a map that favors the billionaire frontrunner, polling well ahead in both largest states, California and New Jersey.
But if Cruz pulls off an upset, he would be strongly positioned in the crunch state of California, Tyler noted, citing Cruz's formidable ground game and superior organization in The Golden State, which votes June 7 on the final day of the Republican race.
'Let's Focus On Hillary'
Clinton, with her formidable lead over Bernie Sanders, needs only 21 per cent of remaining Democratic delegates to win her party's nomination.
But Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist senator representing Vermont, wasn't throwing in the towel.
At a Washington news conference Sanders insisted the Democratic race would come down to a "contested" convention, and appealed to hundreds of so-called superdelegates in a bid to grab the nomination.
These number around 700 and, in contrast to pledged delegates, they can vote for any candidate at the party convention in Philadelphia in July.
Either candidate needs 2,383 delegates for victory. Currently Clinton has 2,176 including 510 superdelegates, while Sanders has 1,400 including 41 superdelegates, according to CNN's tally.
Even with a Sanders nomination a near impossibility, he insisted Monday that his focus on reducing economic inequality and the influence of "special interests and the billionaire class" in politics was resonating with voters.
Meanwhile Trump was already looking beyond Tuesday's contest to a general election matchup with Clinton.
"We're going to get there anyway," he said in Indiana. "And then we can focus on crooked Hillary. Please, let's focus on Hillary."
Last week the two frontrunners clashed over gender issues, with Trump warning voters that Clinton was "playing the woman card" and that if she were a man she would not get more than five percent of the vote.
Clinton dismissed the comments, saying she was accustomed to "dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak."
Trump doubled down again Monday, saying that "if she didn't play the woman card she would have no chance whatsoever of winning."
The "stop Trump" movement faces a moment of truth in the Midwestern state, where Cruz's campaign is struggling to win over voters ahead of a potentially decisive primary.
"We are going to win," Trump told CNN early Monday.
The real estate mogul told a rally in Indiana that his campaign was soaring "like a rocket ship," and that with a new NBC poll showing him 15 percentage points ahead of his main challenger Cruz he was all but assured of winning the state.
"If we win Indiana, it's over," he said in Terre Haute.
Cruz was counting on Indiana acting as a Trump firewall, blocking him from receiving the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination at the Republican convention in Cleveland in July.
The Texas senator has openly stated his goal is to snatch the nomination on a second ballot, when most delegates become free to vote for whomever they choose -- but which will only be held if Trump falls short of a majority.
Trump has so far amassed 1,002 delegates, according to CNN's tally. He now needs just under half of the 502 in play in the remaining 10 contests in order to secure the nomination on the first ballot in Cleveland.
Indiana's winner-takes-all primary could hand the frontrunner 57 in one swoop.
With momentum favoring Trump -- he has won the last six contests -- Cruz put on a brave face, telling reporters "the stakes are enormously high" and that he would stay in the race regardless of the Indiana outcome.
"I am in for the distance," Cruz said. "As long as we have a viable path to victory, I am competing to the end."
Should the conservative senator fall short in Indiana, even his supporters see an extremely steep road ahead.
If Trump sweeps the state "it could be over," former Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler acknowledged on MSNBC.
In that scenario, Trump would need just 39 percent of remaining delegates in a map that favors the billionaire frontrunner, polling well ahead in both largest states, California and New Jersey.
But if Cruz pulls off an upset, he would be strongly positioned in the crunch state of California, Tyler noted, citing Cruz's formidable ground game and superior organization in The Golden State, which votes June 7 on the final day of the Republican race.
'Let's Focus On Hillary'
Clinton, with her formidable lead over Bernie Sanders, needs only 21 per cent of remaining Democratic delegates to win her party's nomination.
But Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist senator representing Vermont, wasn't throwing in the towel.
At a Washington news conference Sanders insisted the Democratic race would come down to a "contested" convention, and appealed to hundreds of so-called superdelegates in a bid to grab the nomination.
These number around 700 and, in contrast to pledged delegates, they can vote for any candidate at the party convention in Philadelphia in July.
Either candidate needs 2,383 delegates for victory. Currently Clinton has 2,176 including 510 superdelegates, while Sanders has 1,400 including 41 superdelegates, according to CNN's tally.
Even with a Sanders nomination a near impossibility, he insisted Monday that his focus on reducing economic inequality and the influence of "special interests and the billionaire class" in politics was resonating with voters.
Meanwhile Trump was already looking beyond Tuesday's contest to a general election matchup with Clinton.
"We're going to get there anyway," he said in Indiana. "And then we can focus on crooked Hillary. Please, let's focus on Hillary."
Last week the two frontrunners clashed over gender issues, with Trump warning voters that Clinton was "playing the woman card" and that if she were a man she would not get more than five percent of the vote.
Clinton dismissed the comments, saying she was accustomed to "dealing with men who sometimes get off the reservation in the way they behave and how they speak."
Trump doubled down again Monday, saying that "if she didn't play the woman card she would have no chance whatsoever of winning."
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