Keller @ Large: What Happens Next?
BOSTON (CBS) -- I know what you may be thinking--is it over yet? Actually, it's just beginning.
The Super Tuesday results were exactly what Donald Trump wanted--he continued to dominate the race, but Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich did just well enough to hang in there.
So where do we go from here? This Saturday, the focus remains on the South and Midwest, with both parties voting in Louisiana and Kansas and Republicans choosing in Kentucky. Next Tuesday, there are primaries for both parties in Michigan and Mississippi. And then it's vote-mageddon on March 15th, with the two huge swing states, Ohio and Florida, plus Illinois, Missouri, and North Carolina, as the Republican race shifts from proportional distribution of delegates to winner-take-all.
The bottom line--Trump's competitors and the GOP establishment have less than two weeks to stall his roll. If he still has last night's momentum heading into the 15th, he can essentially end it right there.
There will still be talk of procedural moves to undercut Trump at the convention in July, where failure to win it on the first ballot can open the door to all kinds of funny business. But don't hold your breath expecting the so-far consistently inept Republican establishment to come up with any brilliant ideas.
And what about the Democrats? Hillary Clinton proved last night that she's got a stranglehold on the nomination. And while Bernie Sanders has the money to forge on and a message he still wants to spread, it's hard to see where the upcoming map offers him much hope.
So, no, it's not over yet. But it might be over by the time they play ball at Fenway Park, if not sooner.
