What Went Down In The Indiana Primary

Just a moment of reflection for those millennial readers who have never owned a TV and are following these Indiana results the good old fashioned Twitter/refresh way; the scene on cable television right now is quite a thing. Steve Schmidt, of “Game Change”/John McCain ’08 fame, really captured the gloomy mood when he said, “Republicans need to ask whether they love their country more than their party.” We’ve all be gradually realizing the mathematical odds stacking up for Trump, but the chatter amongst the TV people is currently what sort of convention Trump will throw in July, and that is truly a moment; the party planning says it all.

If we step back for a second, it’s clear how well Trump did in Indiana. As I noted earlier today, a pre-New York primary projection based on demographics had Trump winning only about 40 percent of the vote in Indiana. He’s winning 52.5 percent of the vote right now. Something clearly changed in the Republican race.

Kasich has won only his home state of Ohio. Here’s a short, non-comprehensive list of candidates from past primaries who won more states than Kasich:

• Howard Dean (two states in 2004)
• Ed Muskie (three to five states in 1972, depending on how Maine and Iowa are counted)
• Newt Gingrich (two states in 2012)
• Pat Buchanan (four states in 1996)
• Steve Forbes (two states in 1996)
• Pat Robertson (four states in 1988)
• Jerry Brown (six states in 1992)