Clinton, Trump stream ahead as rivals show signs of fading
Published:Sunday | April 24, 2016 | 4:41 PM
PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (AP):
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump surged yesterday towards another round of pivotal presidential primaries as their party leaders faced new questions about internal divisions that could complicate their nominees' general election chances.
With less than 24 hours before voting began across five Northeastern states, GOP front-runner Donald Trump looked ahead to tomorrow's contests in five states where he is poised to do well and to a foreign policy speech later in the week. Republican challenger Ted Cruz, meanwhile, abandoned the Tuesday states and instead campaigned in Indiana, which votes May 3.
Clinton hoped Tuesday's contests in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland and Delaware would mark a turning point in her quest for the Democratic nomination. Victories in four or five states would all but cripple Sanders' White House bid.
CHURCH VISIT
The former secretary of state opened her day at a Philadelphia church service attended largely by African-Americans ahead of the primary in Pennsylvania, Tuesday's top delegate prize. She declined to attack her Democratic rival by name in the morning appearance and a subsequent stop in Bridgeport, Connecticut, focusing on the GOP candidates.
Clinton charged that rhetoric from Trump and Ted Cruz is "not only offensive, it's dangerous".
Trump was set to appear in Maryland yesterday as a senior adviser predicted that Cruz is "going to lose all five states and probably finish third in most of them" on Tuesday.
The adviser, Paul Manafort, said the billionaire businessman's campaign, not the candidate, was evolving as the general election neared, an attempt to clarify his recent comments to the Republican National Committee that Trump has been "playing a part" onstage and would soon start to display "more depth ... the real person", in new settings. That includes working with such Washington stalwarts as the Senate majority leader - even as Trump casts himself as the ultimate outsider.