The top issue for Ohio Democratic primary voters was the economy, and most of them favored Mrs. Clinton. A majority of voters also said that trade with other nations takes away American jobs, and more than half of them supported Mrs. Clinton. In Michigan, Mr. Sanders captured this group by double digits. 
 
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 Mrs. Clinton was bullish and beaming at her victory party in West Palm Beach, Fla., after the first three states were called in her favor. “We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November,” she said to cheers from a rowdy crowd of 1,300 people. 
 
 More than in any other primary night speech, Mrs. Clinton aimed her remarks in South Florida at the leading Republican candidate, Donald J. Trump, who boasted of his own victory just miles away. 
 
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 “When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture, that doesn’t make him strong — it makes him wrong,” Mrs. Clinton said, as she called on all Americans to fight against “bluster and bigotry.” 
 
 Mr. Sanders, speaking at a campaign event in Arizona, which holds its contest next week, stuck to his scathing assessment of the American economic system and promised to overhaul campaign finance rules. He criticized Walmart as not paying living wages, but also repeated his creed against global trade that has particularly hit the Midwestern industrial belt. 
 
 “I say to corporate America, you want us to buy your products, start manufacturing those products here in America, not in China,” Mr. Sanders said. 
 
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 Mr. Sanders also used the evening to criticize Mrs. Clinton for having a “super PAC” and relying on large donations. “She has received money from the drug companies and the fossil fuel industry,” he said to loud hisses and boos from the crowd of 7,200 people. “She has given speeches on Wall Street for $225,000 a pop.” 
 
 Ohio was the prize that Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders coveted the most, a bellwether state in American politics that would bestow not only delegates but also a new political story line for the winner: a Clinton comeback or a Sanders surge, given that he was a long-shot there until recently. 
 
 After her loss in Michigan — and Mr. Sanders’s persistent criticism of her record on global trade — Mrs. Clinton’s aides seemed exasperated that her detailed policy positions to bring jobs back to the hard-hit Midwestern states were a harder sell than what they said were the unrealistic promises offered by her opponent. They huddled to retool her economic pitch so that it resonated better in Midwestern states in hopes of competing more strongly with Mr. Sanders. 
 
 “After having lost Michigan, we came into, particularly, Ohio with a renovated plan,” said her spokeswoman, Jennifer Palmieri. 
 
 At a rally in Youngstown, Mrs. Clinton addressed union members packed onto a factory floor at M7 Technologies, reminding them of the work she had done as a senator from New York to bring jobs back to the depressed upstate areas. 
 
 “I stood up for our companies in New York,” she said. “I will stand up for our companies in Ohio and across America,” Mrs. Clinton said. “It’s exciting for me. I am really totally committed to bringing back manufacturing.” 
 
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 The Clinton campaign dispatched former President Bill Clinton to Akron and Toledo, two predominantly white working-class cities that Mr. Sanders also campaigned in. Mrs. Clinton also racked up delegates in heavily black areas of Ohio, including courting voters in Cleveland. 
 
 Mrs. Clinton’s victories in Florida and North Carolina were due in large part to minorities: black voters in both states, and Hispanics in Florida as well. The Sanders campaign had been expecting to lose Florida, given that only Democrats could participate in the primary and he tends to perform better when independents are in the mix. But Mrs. Clinton was also broadly popular in the state, which was reflected in exit polls by Edison Research. 
 
 Mrs. Clinton drew support from about seven in 10 Hispanic voters and nearly eight in 10 black voters. She was backed by a slim majority of white voters, who accounted for about half of the electorate — down from two-thirds in 2008. She was favored by voters who put a high priority on experience or electability, and she was the solid choice when voters were asked who had the better chance of defeating Mr. Trump in November. 
 
 In Ohio exit polls, Mrs. Clinton was far ahead among black voters, but she and Mr. Sanders ran closely among white voters. As in Michigan, Mr. Sanders was drawing huge support from independents and voters under age 30, while Mrs. Clinton was popular with Democrats and voters over 45. 
 
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 As Ohioans streamed to the polls on Tuesday, several voters described intense feelings for their favored candidates. At the Alliance Church in Reynoldsburg, a middle-class Columbus suburb, Sediena Barry, who installs office equipment, said she decided to vote for Bernie Sanders moments before facing the horseshoe of electronic voting machines. 
 
 “Young people were told, get an education and work hard and you’ll get ahead, and none of us are,” said Ms. Barry, 34, who complained that she is taxed at a rate higher rate than bosses who make a half-million dollars a year. 
 
 James Moore, a restaurant manager, said he voted for Mrs. Clinton “for my personal future and my family’s future.” He added: “All her ideals line up with what we want to happen.” 
 
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 For both candidates, Tuesday’s primary results represented a major turning point in the race: Roughly half of the 4,765 Democratic pledged delegates have now been awarded. But their campaigns offered sharply different takes. 
 
 Clinton advisers noted that Mr. Sanders had reached the halfway mark without showing any progress at narrowing her sizable lead in delegates, leaving him only one way forward — to win a series of landslides through the June primaries and pick up significantly more delegates than Mrs. Clinton. 
 
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 That situation is highly unlikely, and Clinton advisers made it clear on Tuesday that they were confident about holding the delegate lead and ready to focus toward the general election. 
 
 “We think she will be the nominee, we’d like for this process to obviously be resolved as quickly as it can, but that’s ultimately not up to us and we’re prepared for it to go on,” Ms. Palmieri said as the voting was underway. 
 
 Sanders advisers, while acknowledging they were far behind in the delegate count, said that the race was now shifting to their advantage and that they expected to win more delegates than Mrs. Clinton in the coming primaries and caucuses. They argued that Mrs. Clinton’s best states were behind her — the primaries across the South and in Texas where her popularity among blacks and Hispanics resulted in troves of delegates. 
 
 Looking ahead, Sanders advisers predicted success in states with large liberal populations, like Wisconsin and California, and those with caucuses, a format that rewards voter enthusiasm and turnout and has favored Mr. Sanders recently. Mr. Sanders has even talked about prevailing in New York, Mrs. Clinton’s home state, given the high numbers of progressive voters and working-class Democrats who share his disgust with Wall Street. 
 
 “We’re now entering a period where we think we’ll win most if not all of the contests before the April 19 primary in New York,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to Mr. Sanders. “Regardless of how much momentum we have after Tuesday, the calendar is shifting in our favor. Now we just have to win some major showdowns, like in New York and New Jersey, to raise questions about whether she can really win the presidency.” 
 
 Mrs. Clinton prevailed in Ohio in 2008 against Mr. Obama and referred to that victory frequently during their campaign, arguing that the Democrats’ best hope in any general election was the winner of that state’s primary. 
 
 ”It’s a state that knows how to pick a president,” Mrs. Clinton said at her victory rally in Columbus in 2008. “And no candidate in recent history, Democrat or Republican, has won the White House without winning the Ohio primary.” 
 
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 Mr. Obama, of course, did go on to win the general election — and Ohio — that November. But after Tuesday, Mrs. Clinton is optimistic once again that her adage will prove true. ||||| Hillary Clinton has been her own worst enemy at times (think homebrew servers and Goldman Sachs speeches) but her big win in Ohio Tuesday night likely catapulted her into history as the first female nominee of a major party. 
 
 Bernie Sanders’ presidential dreams aren’t quite dead. Yet his remarkable insurgency is a teetering Jenga pile of youth support, momentum and access to online millions — and Clinton just plucked out the buttressing block. She won Ohio resoundingly (her massive wins in Florida and North Carolina were a much, much bigger deal in terms of delegates) and she proved that she could capture a diverse and populous industrial Midwestern battleground a week after her shocking loss in Michigan. 
 
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 This is a big haul. The delegate math for Sanders has been pretty dim since Super Tuesday, but now his core rationale (that he owned the hearts and votes of liberal and working-class northerners) suffered a serious, probably fatal, blow. He started off the night about 215 pledged delegates in the hole and will end the evening more than 300 behind Clinton, a margin bordering on the insurmountable. 
 
 Clinton’s wins coupled with Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s not-so-fast-fellas victory in his home state serve as a dual rebuke to Donald Trump, who has now become the singular focus of fire for every candidate left in the race. In fact, every podium utterance (save for Trump’s) sounded as if it had come off of the same speechwriting assembly line: America needs a uniter, not a divider; feel free to shout at my rally, I won’t beat you up; why can’t we all just get along, yadda, yadda, yadda. 
 
 The results cast the parties on divergent political paths: The Democrats seem destined to unite after a few more contests, while Kasich’s Ohio win, coupled with a possible victory by Ted Cruz in Missouri, makes it more likely than ever that the GOP is headed for a contested convention. Here are five takeaways: 
 
 1. The Gospel according to St. Marco. In many ways, Marco Rubio was at his best on the worst day of his political career, delivering an emotional — and prophetic — farewell speech that succinctly defined his divided party’s dilemma as the bitterest of primary campaigns grinds on. 
 
 The 44-year-old Florida senator, a slick, eloquent and aspirational conservative in a party that didn’t much value those attributes, was a man without a geographical or ideological foothold in the GOP, and his 20-point home state loss made soldiering on impossible. Moreover, his Miami bow-out underscored what made him fail in the first place: He touted the rebellious energy of the tea party movement while trying to put a lid on its runaway rage. 
 
 But embedded in his contradictions as a candidate was a message well worth heeding for Republicans: Anger is a niche product with an early expiration date; optimism has a wider consumer base and an unlimited shelf life. 
 
 “While we’re aware … this may not have been the year for a hopeful and optimistic vision of our future,” he said, “we want to unite this country … America needs a conservative movement, one that is based on ideas, principles. Not on fear. Not on anger. Not on preying on people’s frustrations.” 
 
 2. Democrats want to fight Trump, not each other. The exit polls were fuzzy on the topic, but the voters seemed to be sending their party a clear, collective message: Ditch the character-building internecine slap fight and unite to fight the common enemy. 
 
 In a year where establishment candidates have tumbled like protesters at a Trump rally, Clinton — the most entrenched political veteran to seek the presidency since Nixon — triumphed precisely because she is so committed to mastering of the details of a job Trump would delegate to super smart and thus-far-unidentified really terrific people. 
 
 Despite Sanders’ repeated calls for a revolution — and his seven-to-one success with voters under 30 — Democratic voters have overwhelmingly prioritized experience over a candidate’s “outsider” bona fides. That trend held in Ohio and Florida, the two biggest Tuesday prizes, where Democratic voters expressed revulsion at the spate of violent events at Trump rallies. 
 
 Clinton wasn’t subtle about pivoting to The Donald. “Tonight it’s clearer than ever that this might be one of the most consequential campaigns of our lifetimes,” the hoarse but ecstatic former secretary of state told a cheering audience in Miami. “Our commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it.” 
 
 Sanders? 
 
 Oh, he’d run a “vigorous” campaign, she said in passing. 
 
 3. The Battle of Cleveland. The impact of Rubio’s exit — and Kasich’s sudden rise — creates a mess of unpredictable scenarios that could end in Trump’s coronation, a contested convention or some kind of split decision that sends the GOP’s mid-July convention into fractious anarchy. For starters, it’s unclear where the Florida senator’s voters (15 to 20 percent of the GOP electorate) will go; the conventional wisdom is that Kasich will benefit more than Cruz, but that’s no lock. 
 
 The next batch of state contests — New Jersey, Arizona, Delaware, South Dakota and Montana — seem to favor Trump, but the race has entered a new volatile stage. And, increasingly, the stage seems set for some kind of showdown on the convention floor (and the streets outside) when the Republicans return to Cleveland. 
 
 4. Angry white people love Donald Trump. Does anyone else? Time to stop judging Trump by the hothouse standards of the ultra-conservative GOP primary. He’s likely (though not a lock) to win his party’s nomination, and maybe — just maybe — his rhinestone-studded gloom-and-glare won’t sell to a general electorate that is agitated, but not nearly as pitchfork-pissed as he is. 
 
 Exit polls in Tuesday’s five voting states reinforced pretty much every single prevailing assumption about Trump’s core electorate — with a vengeance. White? Totally. Older? You betcha. Angry? Man, you have no idea. When pollsters asked respondents in Florida and Ohio who were ticked off with the federal government, they picked Marco Rubio and John Kasich, who touted the standard-issue D.C.-sucks mantra of the ‘90s and ‘00s GOP. 
 
 But when pollsters amped the question to 11 — to voters who described themselves as “angry” — Trump (an orange Hulk in a pack of better-behaved Bruce Banners) destroyed the competition. If you’ve been to one of his rallies, or seen him call for anti-Trump protesters to be cuffed, bopped, arrested or chucked into the gutter, this comes as no surprise. 
 
 But here’s the rub: Even in Florida, where he dominated by 20 points over Rubio, Trump couldn’t quite get over the 50 percent mark. True, GOP rage is at a fever pitch, but it’s not universal: In fact, six in 10 Republican exit-poll respondents in all five states said they aren’t angry — and an even smaller percentage of the general electorate identifies as irate, and a lot of those voters aren’t white and aren’t conservative. Again, Rubio played prophet: “The politics of resentment of other people will not only leave us a fractured party but will leave us a fractured nation.” 
 
 5. Bernie is being kept alive by independents. Clinton’s convincing victory in Ohio was all the more impressive because it took place in an open primary state that permitted same-day registration by independents. But exit polls, and reports from both campaigns, indicate that Clinton cleaned up by intensifying her turnout operations in black communities (she had a net 15-point lead in Ohio among registered Democrats) not by crossing over to working-class whites and young people who are more prone to avoid party affiliations. 
 
 In Illinois, Clinton lost indies by a roughly 75-to-25 percent margin — similar to the ratio that doomed her in Michigan a week ago. Trump, like Sanders, feasts on independents and thrives in open primaries, and Clinton’s staff acknowledges she has to cut into those margins to succeed in the fall. “It’s a serious problem,” a senior Clinton staffer told me. “It’s something we are going to be focused on once — I mean if — we get past Bernie.” ||||| Republican front-runner Donald Trump spoke in Palm Beach, Fla., after primary voters took to the polls in five states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina. (Reuters) 
 
 Republican front-runner Donald Trump spoke in Palm Beach, Fla., after primary voters took to the polls in five states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina. (Reuters) 
 
 It was a good night for Donald Trump and an even better night for Hillary Clinton. On one of the most important days of the primary season, the two front-runners continued what has become an inexorable march to their party’s presidential nominations and a general election matchup that was unimagined when this campaign began. 
 
 For Clinton, it was a night to bounce back after her surprising defeat in Michigan at the hands of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont last week. She did so in stunning fashion. With questions swirling about her candidacy, Clinton answered her critics with a series of victories that padded a lead in delegates that now has become almost insurmountable. 
 
 For Trump, it was a night in which he won at least three states and sent one rival, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, to the sidelines. But Trump was unable to put away a second, Ohio Gov. John Kasich. Like Clinton, the New York billionaire added to his delegate lead over Kasich and his nearest competitor, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. But the overall results still left open the prospect that the GOP nomination will not be decided until the party assembles in July in Cleveland for its national convention. 
 
 The night broke early in Clinton’s direction as she rolled to an overwhelming victory in Florida and followed that quickly with wins in North Carolina and Ohio. Early Wednesday, she added Illinois to her column. The first two were expected, given the makeup of the electorates in those states. Ohio’s demographics were close enough to those in Michigan to give Sanders hope of a repeat victory, but Clinton’s success dashed those hopes and blunted whatever momentum he had enjoyed. 
 
 The Ohio results represented a back-breaking blow to Sanders. His populist, anti-establishment insurgency has fired the energies of the party’s grass-roots progressives, and there is little doubt that he has both the determination and the resources to keep fighting. His campaign has accomplished far more than almost anyone anticipated and he has shaped the issue agenda and the dialogue in the Democratic nomination contest. 
 
 Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton spoke to supporters in West Palm Beach, Fla., after primary voters took to the polls in five states: Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and North Carolina. (Reuters) 
 
 For all those assets, Sanders has fallen behind in the unforgiving arithmetic of the way Democrats choose their nominees. Clinton’s lead has been built by taking advantage of states where the demographics tilt heavily in her favor, particularly those with substantial populations of African Americans, while holding Sanders close in the states he has won. 
 
 Clinton holds a lead of nearly 300 pledged delegates, those determined by the results of the primaries and caucuses. That is a bigger lead in pledged delegates than then-Sen. Barack Obama had in his epic battle against Clinton eight years ago. Her lead among so-called super delegates — party leaders and elected officials — is even more overwhelming. 
 
 Because Democrats award pledged delegates proportionally, Sanders needs not only a string of victories but also popular vote margins large enough to pick up delegates in bushel baskets, contest by contest. For those who have questioned the quality of Clinton’s campaign, there’s no doubting the effectiveness of her delegate-focused strategy. 
 
 Clinton’s victory speech in Florida gave the clearest sense so far that she now feels confident about how the nomination will end. Her message was aimed at a general-election contest against Trump. She excoriated the Republican front-runner repeatedly, drawing attention to what she called his negative and divisive campaign. 
 
 Trump’s victories were another reminder of his ability to overcome adversity. For the past five days he has been on the defensive, criticized for encouraging violence against protesters at his rallies. He also was the target of millions of dollars in negative ads in Florida. In the face of that, he swamped Rubio in Rubio’s home state and won North Carolina and Illinois, as well. 
 
 Trump was very much on the mind of Kasich, when he appeared before supporters and promised he would not take a low road to the highest office in the land. Kasich was winless until Tuesday night, and Ohio was a make-or-break test. His ebullience was emblematic of his personality but also underscored Kasich’s relief — and perhaps surprise — that he is now one of three remaining candidates for the GOP nomination. 
 
 Kasich’s path ahead is still perilous. His belief is that the victory in Ohio will fundamentally change the dynamic of the GOP race and that the anti-Trump forces will begin to coalesce around him now that Rubio is out. But there are few states that offer obvious victories. 
 
 1 of 40 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × What primary day looked like in Fla., Ill., Mo., N.C. and Ohio View Photos Voters in five states cast their ballets during primaries today. Caption Voters in five states cast their ballets during primaries today. March 15, 2016 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a campaign news conference at the Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 There is no way he can win a majority before Cleveland, and it’s almost certain that he will not even be the delegate leader by the time the primaries and caucuses end. His real hope for winning the nomination is to seize the prize at the convention in Cleveland. He needs time, and enough victories, to prove his worth and then rely on a deadlocked convention to choose him to prevent Trump from becoming the nominee. 
 
 Kasich has yet to prove he is a long-distance runner. That is not the case with Cruz, who like Trump is emblematic of the strength of the outsiders in the Republican race. The Texas senator was at risk of ending the night without a victory, with his last hope coming in Missouri, where he and Trump were in a tight race. The results left him even further behind Trump in delegates. 
 
 Cruz could yet become the true challenger to Trump. His campaign has even sketched out a scenario under which he would end up with more delegates than Trump heading into the convention. But that depends on his ability to corner Trump in a one-on-one battle in the remaining states. 
 
 Some national polls have shown that when matched head-to-head against Trump, Cruz enjoys more support. That is the foundation on which the Cruz camp is building its strategy for winning the nomination. His advisers see plenty of opportunities ahead and anticipate a big day on June 7, the final day of the primaries, when the biggest prize is California and its 172 delegates. 
 
 But that strategy suffered a setback on Tuesday when Kasich won Ohio. Cruz’s advisers no doubt were privately pulling for Trump to do to Kasich what he did to Rubio. The Texas senator can ill afford a revived Kasich candidacy. 
 
 Cruz’s team also is confident that they can outperform Trump’s campaign in the combat that will take place at state party conventions over the coming weeks. It will be at those conventions that the delegates will be named. Cruz’s team will work every angle possible to fill slots with friendly delegates, even if many are pledged to Trump on the first ballot in Cleveland. 
 
 The establishment so far has failed to stop Trump and is now dependent on Kasich to do so. Cruz and his advisers are still trying to isolate Trump to give their strategy the ultimate test. They hope that even establishment Republicans rally behind the Texas senator now that the race is down to three. 
 
 Meanwhile, Trump is winning. He wins states, and he wins delegates. He has won in every region of the country, and his appeal to Republicans continues to be cross-cutting. It becomes ever harder to deny him the nomination. ||||| Hillary Clinton won primaries in Florida, North Carolina and Ohio, the night's most contested prize, as her rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, struggled to get the boost he needed to try to close the gap in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. 
 
 Clinton also won a close contest in Illinois and was holding an extremely small margin in Missouri, with nearly all of the votes counted. With those contests so close, neither candidate will gain a significant edge from them in the race for delegates to the Democratic nominating convention this summer. Clinton's three big victories, by contrast, will give her a major gain. 
 
 “We are moving closer to securing the Democratic Party nomination and winning this election in November,” Clinton told supporters here, and she quickly moved to an attack on the Republican she expects to face in that election, Donald Trump, whom she accused of offering “bluster and bigotry.” 
 
 “Our next commander in chief has to be able to defend our country, not embarrass it; engage our allies, not alienate them,” she said. 
 
 “When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, barring all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture, that doesn't make him strong — it makes him wrong.” 
 
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 Clinton barely mentioned Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont, except to briefly congratulate him for running a “vigorous campaign.” 
 
 If Sanders was chastened by the results, he didn't let it show while speaking to rapturous supporters in Phoenix. 
 
 “Do not settle for the status quo when the status quo is broken,” he said in a speech in which he showed no sign of easing up on Clinton. He once again attacked her vote in favor of the war in Iraq and demanded she release the transcripts of lucrative speeches to Wall Street firms. 
 
 Sanders had worked aggressively over the last week to expand a beachhead in the nation's industrial states after his upset victory in Michigan last week exposed new vulnerabilities for Clinton. 
 
 That set up Ohio as a key contest, where both candidates campaigned extensively and spent large amounts on television advertising. Clinton's victory there will go a long way toward solidifying her margin in the delegate race and reassuring her supporters. 
 
 Clinton's victory in North Carolina continued her sweep through the South, where black voters make up a big share of the Democratic electorate. And her decisive win in Florida, where she took nearly two-thirds of the vote, will net her a large majority of the state's 246 delegates to the Democratic convention — the third-largest delegation after California and New York. 
 
 The wins mean Clinton will significantly expand her already large lead among delegates to this summer's convention, building a margin of roughly 300 delegates over Sanders, without counting the roughly 400 so-called superdelegates who back her — party leaders and elected officials who automatically get convention votes. 
 
 After Tuesday, the math looks increasingly daunting for her rival, who now would need a series of very big victories in big states to catch up with Clinton's growing lead in the delegate race. 
 
 That does not, however, mean she has clinched the nomination. Under the Democrats' rules, which allocate delegates proportionately to each candidate's vote, Clinton probably won't be able to do that until the primary season ends in California in June. 
 
 In the Michigan upset last week, frustration among Midwestern Democrats with some of the free-trade policies Clinton has backed over the years, as well as with the Wall Street institutions whose recklessness helped push the nation into recession in 2007, emerged as a significant liability for the former secretary of State. 
 
 That anger shaped the campaigns in the three Midwestern states. Polls had indicated that all three could have close contests, and after the big miss by pollsters in Michigan, all of whom predicted a Clinton victory, both campaigns were wary of predictions. 
 
 Sanders' attacks on corporate America, particularly on trade, clearly connected with many voters. 
 
 “I believe in his change,” said Sanders supporter Mark Russell, 59, who stopped to vote in the Clintonville neighborhood of Columbus, near Ohio State University, on his way to work at Goodwill Industries. 
 
 “I believe that right now we're run by corporations,” he said. “It's not an even playing field, and it counts against us. I believe that he can do something about that. He's the only one that's really talking in that direction.” 
 
 Yet Sanders' effort to translate that sort of sentiment into votes came up short this time. 
 
 Clinton continues to do well with voters like Tampa resident Zachary Hines, 26, who value her years of preparation. 
 
 “She's the most prepared and experienced candidate to run for president in modern history,” said Hines, who works as a marketing director for a theater company. “I'm very excited to vote for the first woman president.” 
 
 Exit polls suggested voters were more confident in Clinton's agenda, with 77% in Ohio saying her policies were realistic, as opposed to 58% saying the same about Sanders' proposals. The divide was even bigger in Florida, where only 46% of voters expressed confidence that the Sanders agenda was realistic, according to exit polling conducted for the major television networks and the Associated Press. 
 
 Female voters came out in force for Clinton on Tuesday. She won 67% of them in Florida and 58% of them in Ohio, according to the exit poll. She also dominated with nonwhite voters in both states, winning 73% of them in Florida and 63% in Ohio. Seniors supported her by a margin of nearly 4 to 1 in both states. 
 
 Clinton had been eager to avenge a Michigan loss that some operatives attributed to poor strategic decisions and resource deployment by a campaign that had grown complacent after public polls that proved wildly misleading. 
 
 To ensure she did not repeat that defeat, Clinton redoubled her focus on the Midwest. 
 
 The former secretary of State, who has locked up almost every major national union endorsement, mobilized her labor supporters and stepped up her opposition to the Trans Pacific Partnership, the trade deal negotiated by President Obama that is reviled by unions. ||||| Photo 
 
 Yes, it’s inevitable. Try to shrug off that Clinton fatigue. Hold your nose, if you have to. The only thing standing between a thuggish narcissist and the White House is the almost-certain Democratic nominee — Hillary Clinton. 
 
 Not-quite-as-Super Tuesday was an unqualified triumph for Clinton, who outperformed polls and expectations across much of the map. Whatever momentum Bernie Sanders had after the upset in Michigan dissipated Tuesday night. Madame secretary cleaned his clock where she had to. 
 
 It was the last chance for Sanders to show that he had a path to the nomination. The math now makes it nearly impossible for him to get the bid, even with a favorable string of states ahead. 
 
 Particularly in Florida — with a Democratic Party of New America demographics — Clinton showed once again that her appeal is far broader than Sanders’s. To catch Clinton, Sanders needed to get beyond his core of young, college-educated whites. If he’d won Ohio and Illinois, where he was competitive, he’d have some wind at his back. He’s a statement candidate now — a strong one, full of integrity. 
 
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 But that doesn’t mean the 74-year-old socialist-lite should get out. He’s done a real service, for the party he only recently joined, and for the country. Clinton is a far better candidate because of him. More than that, the Democratic Party is paying attention to the angry millions in the margins, those who may be tempted by the demagogue who wants to make America white again. Thank Sanders for that. ||||| Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonSanders poised to announce presidential campaign: report Transparency advocate group releases trove of hacked Russian documents Arson suspected at DC restaurant associated with 'Pizzagate' conspiracy MORE took a huge step toward clinching the Democratic presidential nomination on Tuesday with big victories in the swing states of Florida and Ohio. 
 
 Tuesday’s results also made a November showdown between Clinton and Republican front-runner Donald Trump Donald John TrumpStone: 'I’ve never had any discussion' with Trump about a pardon White House: Trump will move forward on wall 'with or without' Dems Pelosi after Stone indictment: 'What does Putin have on the president'? MORE more likely after the businessman won Florida’s winner-take-all GOP primary. 
 
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 The blemish for Trump was a loss in Ohio, where the state’s governor, John Kasich, won his first victory of the 2016 campaign — a win he desperately needed. 
 
 Still, Trump took home all 99 of Florida’s GOP delegates and in the process ended rival Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioThe Hill's 12:30 Report — Stone indicted in Mueller probe | Says he's not guilty | Day 35 of shutdown | FAA briefly halts flights into LaGuardia A crowded 2020 presidential primary field calls for ranked choice voting Omar, Tlaib come under fire from GOP MORE’s presidential campaign in his home state. The senator suspended his campaign shortly after 8 p.m., telling his supporters that it “is not God’s plan that I be president in 2016 or maybe ever.” 
 
 But the biggest victories went to Clinton. The former secretary of State’s defeat of Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersSanders poised to announce presidential campaign: report On The Money: Trump agrees to end shutdown without wall funding | Senate quickly clears short-term funding measure | House to vote tonight | Federal workers could get back pay within days | Dems take victory lap Shutdown ends without funding for Trump’s border wall MORE in Florida was widely expected, but her prize in Ohio was far from a sure thing. 
 
 “This was another super Tuesday for our campaign,” Clinton told cheering supporters in Florida. “Thank you, Florida, thank you, North Carolina and thank you, Ohio.” 
 
 Clinton then pivoted to Trump, criticizing his call for a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, his proposed ban on Muslims entering the country and his call for the use of torture against suspected terrorists. 
 
 “When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture, that doesn’t make him strong, it makes him wrong,” Clinton said. 
 
 “We should be bringing down barriers, not building walls,” she added. “You know, to be great, we can’t be small. We can’t lose what made America great in the first place.” 
 
 In Florida, Clinton won 65 percent of the vote compared to 33 percent for Sanders, with 99 percent of precincts counted. 
 
 The Sunshine State was the biggest prize of the night for Democrats, awarding 214 pledged delegates, and Clinton’s win means she will pad her already substantial delegate lead. 
 
 The Sanders campaign upset Clinton last week in Michigan and had hoped to steal another state away in Ohio with its anti-trade, anti-Wall Street message. 
 
 The results in the two swing states will do much to calm Democrats who have been unnerved by Sanders’s successes against Clinton, which had given ammunition to critics calling her a flawed candidate. 
 
 Clinton on Tuesday also added a victory in North Carolina, continuing a sweep of the South built on her popularity among African-American voters. She won in Illinois as well. 
 
 The wins move Clinton closer to winning the 2,383 delegates she needs to win the Democratic race, and could put her all but out of reach for the Vermont senator. 
 
 By late Tuesday evening, Clinton had 1,410 delegates, according to The Associated Press, which includes unbound superdelegates, and she was likely to add to that tally by the end of the night by winning delegates in the Missouri primary, which remained too close to call. 
 
 Things weren’t quite as clear-cut on the Republican side, though Trump underlined his status as the party’s front-runner with a significant win in Florida and victories in North Carolina and Illinois. 
 
 Trump won about 46 percent of the Florida vote, compared to 27 percent for Rubio. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzA crowded 2020 presidential primary field calls for ranked choice voting Bennet: Washington politics have been 'tyrannized' by Freedom Caucus, Cruz NASA space center asking employees to volunteer to clean bathrooms during shutdown MORE had 17 percent. 
 
 "We have something happening that actually makes the Republican Party the biggest political story anywhere in the world," the celebrity billionaire said in Palm Beach, Fla. 
 
 "Millions of people are coming out to vote. ... I think we're going to have a great victory." 
 
 The Florida result was a stunning defeat for Rubio that will raise questions about his political future. The senator decided against running for reelection to pursue his White House bid and will now return to the upper chamber as a lame duck. 
 
 In his speech to supporters but without naming Trump, Rubio decried the nasty rhetoric and personal insults that have dominated Republicans’ 2016 campaign. 
 
 “While this may not have been the year for a hopeful or optimistic message about our future, I still remain hopeful and optimistic about America,” he said. “I ask the American people, do not give in to fear. Do not give into frustration.” 
 
 Missouri also hosted a GOP contest Tuesday but remained too close to call definitively with nearly 100 percent of the vote in on both sides. Both Clinton and Trump were ahead by less than 1 percentage point. Sanders and Cruz, who was right behind Trump, could both call for recounts. 
 
 Kasich’s win in Ohio was good news for those who want to prevent Trump from clinching the nomination before the party’s national convention this July in Cleveland. 
 
 Trump would need to win about 60 percent of the remaining delegates to get to the 1,237 he needs. 
 
 Cruz has been calling for the other candidates to drop out of the race to give him an opportunity to go after Trump one-on-one. 
 
 On Tuesday, it appeared he would have to wait longer for such a scenario after Kasich’s win in Ohio. 
 
 Updated at 1:44 a.m.
– Bernie Sanders didn't lose the Democratic race on Tuesday night, but with big wins for Hillary Clinton in Ohio and at least three other states, he lost the momentum from his surprise win in Michigan and fell further behind in the delegate count. Analysts say that although the senator plans to keep his campaign going, Clinton could now be impossible to catch. A roundup of coverage: Sanders is now more than 300 pledged delegates behind Clinton, which may be an insurmountable margin, reports Politico, which describes his candidacy as a "teetering Jenga pile of youth support, momentum, and access to online millions"—now minus the "buttressing block" of Ohio. Tuesday night's results were a huge setback for Sanders, who had been counting on wins in the Midwest to keep his candidacy viable, reports the New York Times, which notes that Clinton's delegate lead over Sanders is about triple the size of the lead Obama had over her at this stage in 2008. The Washington Post also declares the race all but over for Sanders, calling Ohio a "back-breaking blow" that makes it nearly impossible for him to catch Clinton—though he clearly "has both the determination and the resources to keep fighting," and his campaign has already "accomplished far more than almost anyone anticipated." Sanders would need a "series of very big victories in big states" to catch up at this point, the Los Angeles Times reports, but because of how delegates are allocated, Clinton is still unlikely to clinch the nomination before California votes in June. In her primary night speech, Clinton praised Sanders' "vigorous campaign," but her focus was Donald Trump. "When we hear a candidate for president call for rounding up 12 million immigrants, banning all Muslims from entering the United States, when he embraces torture, that doesn't make him strong, it makes him wrong," she said, per the Hill. "We should be bringing down barriers, not building walls," she continued. "You know, to be great, we can't be small. We can't lose what made America great in the first place." Sanders probably can't win, but he should definitely stay in the race, writes Timothy Egan in a New York Times op-ed, praising the Vermont senator for energizing young voters, forcing the Democratic party to pay attention to the "angry millions in the margins," and pulling Clinton to the left on issues like trade deals and Wall Street. By staying in the race, Sanders' ideas "will shape every part of the party platform, which will give Clinton what she lacks: a clear message," Egan writes. "Eventually, he'll endorse the woman he influenced, and Democrats will be the better for it."