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Other Candidates Keep Pressure On Trump, Clinton

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

We've talked a lot about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Let's talk about the runners-up in each party on Super Tuesday. NPR's Sam Sanders begins on the Democratic side.

SAM SANDERS, BYLINE: At Bernie Sanders headquarters in Essex Junction, Vt., Tuesday night, the mood was equal parts victory celebration and homecoming.

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BERNIE SANDERS: Thank you. It is good to be home.

S. SANDERS: Sanders took the stage a few minutes after being projected the winner in Vermont's Democratic primary. Sanders went on to win four states, but they don't have a lot of delegates. That didn't stop the celebration.

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B. SANDERS: By the end of tonight, we are going to win many hundreds of delegates.

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S. SANDERS: Sanders reminded the crowd that delegates are appointed proportionally for Democrats. That means he can still pick up delegates in states he loses. But at no point did Sanders say the word loss. At the end of his speech, he talked in staying in the fight and campaigning all across the country.

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B. SANDERS: Thirty-five states remain. And let me assure you that we are going to take our fight for economic justice, for social justice, for environmental sanity, for a world of peace to every one of those states.

S. SANDERS: With $42 million raised just last month, Sanders should be able to keep going for a while. Sam Sanders, NPR News, Essex Junction, Vt.

GREENE: Now, our other colleague, Don Gonyea, has been reporting on the Republicans who are challenging Donald Trump. Don was covering Ted Cruz last night when the candidate had already picked up two states. He picked up a third state this morning - Alaska.

DON GONYEA, BYLINE: Ted Cruz was celebrating at a place called the Redneck Country Club near Houston. He won Texas and Oklahoma last night. Toss in his previous victory in the Iowa caucuses and he can make this claim.

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TED CRUZ: We are the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump once...

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CRUZ: ...Twice...

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CRUZ: ...Three times.

GONYEA: Then a call to the others still in the race.

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CRUZ: I ask you to prayerfully consider our coming together, uniting.

GONYEA: Uniting behind Cruz that is. Now to Marco Rubio.

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MARCO RUBIO: I love you Miami.

GONYEA: Ignoring yesterday's latest Trump victories, Rubio, who did carry Minnesota's caucuses last night, said his new campaign tactic of relentlessly attacking Trump and his record is working.

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RUBIO: Just five days ago we began to unmask the true nature of the frontrunner so far in this race.

GONYEA: But for Rubio, his next and perhaps last big opportunity to show that he can challenge Trump comes when Florida, his home state, holds its winner-take-all primary March 15. Rubio must win that one. But currently Trump enjoys a big lead in Florida polls. Then there's Ohio Governor John Kasich. He came away from Super Tuesday with little to show for it. Now, it's all on his home state primary in two weeks. A victory then could give him some clout going into the convention this summer. Meantime, he said last night he's staying above the fray.

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JOHN KASICH: I'm not engaging in personal attacks, name-calling or mudslinging.

GONYEA: The GOP challengers - each with a plan and long odds. Don Gonyea, NPR News, Miami. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

You're most likely to find NPR's Don Gonyea on the road, in some battleground state looking for voters to sit with him at the local lunch spot, the VFW or union hall, at a campaign rally, or at their kitchen tables to tell him what's on their minds. Through countless such conversations over the course of the year, he gets a ground-level view of American elections. Gonyea is NPR's National Political Correspondent, a position he has held since 2010. His reports can be heard on all NPR News programs and at NPR.org. To hear his sound-rich stories is akin to riding in the passenger seat of his rental car, traveling through Iowa or South Carolina or Michigan or wherever, right along with him.
Sam Sanders
Sam Sanders is a correspondent and host of It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders at NPR. In the show, Sanders engages with journalists, actors, musicians, and listeners to gain the kind of understanding about news and popular culture that can only be reached through conversation. The podcast releases two episodes each week: a "deep dive" interview on Tuesdays, as well as a Friday wrap of the week's news.
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