Voters cast ballots in five north-eastern states Tuesday, with frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both looking to overwhelm their respective Democratic and Republican rivals in the race for the White House. A very strong showing in primaries in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island would Clinton on the cusp of Democratic victory, a monumental step in her quest to become the nation's first female commander in chief.
"I don't have the nomination yet," the former secretary of state said in a town hall event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's largest city, on the eve of the vote. "We're going to work really hard until the polls close tomorrow." Trump also was expected to extend his formidable lead in the bruising race for the Republican nomination, even as rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich mounted a hasty, and already fraying tag team effort to try to block him.
Kasich agreed to forego campaigning in Indiana, a winner-take-all state that votes May 3, and Cruz will return the favour later in New Mexico and Oregon. But within hours of the surprise deal, the Ohio governor was already playing it down, saying he was not telling his supporters in Indiana not to vote for him. "What's the big deal?" he said. Tuesday's voting began at 6 am (1000 GMT) in Connecticut and one hour later in the other states. Polls across all five states close at 8 pm (0000 GMT Wednesday).
Voting was brisk in Maryland. "So far it looks good," said Lucy Freeman, 79, a Democratic precinct chair at a voting station in Chevy Chase, Maryland. New US citizen Imalka Senahidra, a 53-year-old born in Sri Lanka, was voting for the first time and nervous about "which way the country might go." "I've always believed in experience and wisdom, so I'll go along with that," she said.
Clinton was favoured to win all five state Democratic contests, with polls giving her a double-digit lead over rival Bernie Sanders in Pennsylvania, the biggest state of the bunch with 189 delegates. Big wins on Tuesday night would put her within striking distance of the Democratic nomination, piling up pressure on Sanders, who has vowed to fight on until the California primary June 7.
"I don't accept there is no path forward. Let's not count our chickens before they're hatched," Sanders said Tuesday in an interview with MSNBC. "There are five contests today. The state of California - last I heard the largest state in the United States of America - has not yet cast a ballot," he said. Sanders has deflected questions about whether he would actively support a Clinton candidacy if she is the nominee, suggesting it was up to her to win over his passionate young followers.
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