Clinton and Trump
Published March 16, 2016
Editorial by Greensboro News-Record, March 16, 2016.
North Carolina Republicans handed Donald Trump another prize Tuesday, but they should worry about the future.
Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary with far more votes than went to Trump. If she draws out more voters again in November, she’ll turn the state blue for just the second time since Jimmy Carter’s election in 1976. Barack Obama narrowly captured North Carolina in 2008.
Republican Ted Cruz made the point incessantly as he campaigned in North Carolina as recently as Sunday: Trump will lose to Clinton in the general election. Cruz could win. The pitch probably helped the Texas senator make it a much closer race than polls had suggested it was. If he’d also gotten some support from North Carolina leaders — his biggest endorsement came from state Sen. Phil Berger, but only on Monday — he might have caught Trump.
Clinton, on the other hand, earned a strong victory over Bernie Sanders in a state where she was beaten by Obama eight years ago. She made a strong appeal to black voters and women this time, and that advantage will certainly carry over to the fall.
Clinton also claimed big wins in Florida and Ohio and was leading in Illinois. Missouri was neck-and-neck well into the evening. Even if Sanders could slip past her in Missouri or Illinois, his chances of denying her the nomination are fading.
The Republican picture is more uncertain. Ohio Gov. John Kasich won his state’s primary and all its delegates, keeping him in the race. But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio was swamped on his home turf by Trump, forcing him to quit. Trump also won in Illinois and was ahead in Missouri, although Cruz was very close behind there. Tuesday’s mixed results could indicate Trump will have trouble securing a majority of delegates before the Republican convention, where some party leaders may try to keep the nomination from him.
The North Carolina numbers show why Trump poses a big risk. This is a key swing state, and Clinton simply shows much greater strength here. Cruz probably is right that Trump won’t beat Clinton in North Carolina.
That should worry Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, even though both easily won their primaries and will meet challengers Roy Coop-er and Deborah Ross, respectively, in the general election. Cooper, the state’s attorney general, and former legislator Ross handily won their primaries on the Democratic side.
Trump’s offensive rhetoric and the overheated atmosphere at many of his rallies, including one in Fayetteville last week, have led to confrontations and violence. Many North Carolina Republican voters may have been repulsed enough to turn from Trump to Cruz in the last few days. In fact, Cruz performed much better on Tuesday than he did in early voting. But it was too late to keep this state out of the Trump win column. It may not be our state’s proudest moment.
Voters have plenty of doubts about Clinton, but her win in North Carolina was convincing. Trump’s was not.
