Connecticut Primary Could Impact Delegate Count For Underdog Candidates
HARTFORD (CBSNewYork)-- Connecticut, one of five states voting on Tuesday, could have an impact on the delegate count for so-called underdog candidates.
While it's a small state, this year Connecticut is a player in the presidential nominating process, WCBS 880's Fran Schneidau reported.
Political Professor Gary Rose said even though Hillary Clinton leads among Democrats, there is the possibility of a Bernie Sanders upset.
"History is on the side of Bernie Sanders, actually. If you go back in time, we've had a good number of insurgent candidates that have upset the frontrunners," he said.
Rose said on the Republican side, Donald Trump will likely have a big day after votes are counted Tuesday night. However, he said it's very likely John Kasich will always win some delegates.
Every vote Kasich picks up could make it all the harder for Trump to reach the GOP nominiation prize of 1,237 delegates, Rose noted.
Trump is railing against a deal reached by Cruz and Kasich to divvy up a series of upcoming contests to maximize their chances of halting Trump's march to the GOP nomination.
"It's collusion,'' Trump says of the deal, speaking at a rally in Rhode Island. Trump says that, "if you collude in business or if you collude in the stock market, they put you in jail. But in politics, because it's a rigged system, because it's a corrupt enterprise, in politics you're allowed to collude.'' But Trump says he's actually OK with the decision because it demonstrates his rivals' weakness
"It shows how weak they are. It shows how pathetic they are,'' he says.
Clinton took aim at Trump in Delaware Monday, saying the Republican front-runner should come out of his towers and "actually talk and listen to people.''
Before more than 800 people at a Wilmington theater, Clinton did not mention her rival Sanders and focused instead on Trump and the Republicans. She noted contrasts on climate change, minimum wage and abortion rights. In some of her toughest comments, she suggested Trump was out of touch with average Americans.
"If you want to be president with the United States, you've got to get familiar with the United States,'' Clinton said. "Don't just fly that big jet in and land it and go make a big speech and insult everybody you can think of.''
Clinton did not mention Sanders, even when she spoke about gun laws, an area where she frequently attacks his record.
Candidates are campaigning on the East Coast in advance of primary elections Tuesday in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.
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