How Minnesota Fits In Super Tuesday
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Minnesota moved up its caucus date to be part of Super Tuesday, and it's made a big difference.
Minnesota doesn't have a lot of delegates to offer, but presidential candidates have been rotating in and out of the state for months.
Minnesota is now one of 12 states that participate in Super Tuesday. Almost half of the delegates needed to win the nomination in both parties are up for grabs.
Republicans have 595 delegates at stake; 1,237 are needed to nominate. Democrats have 1,007 total delegates up for grabs; about 2,300 are needed to nominate.
Minnesota will send 93 delegates to the Democratic convention. Republicans will send 38 to their convention.
The idea behind Super Tuesday came from the national heads of the Republican and Democratic parties, who wanted a large, multi-state contest early in the year so that nominees could wrap up campaigns.
While Super Tuesday has created a lot of political energy, it's brought considerable chaos, too.
Looking ahead at Tuesday night, Democratic hopeful Bernie Sanders and Republican Marco Rubio need wins to stay competitive.
Meanwhile, it's entirely possible the two front runners, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, could take big steps toward their respective nominations.
Tuesday's caucuses start at 7 p.m. in Minnesota.