memeorandum: Trump starts spending to end Cruz in Indiana (Shane Goldmacher/Politico)

9:55 AM ET, April 27, 2016

Top Items:

Why Donald Trump Is Probably Two States From Victory — Donald J. Trump is essentially two key states from the nomination. — By sweeping five states on Tuesday, he pulled only a few hundred Republican delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to win without a contested convention.

Discussion: Vox, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Real Clear Politics

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Winners and losers from the I-95 primaries … Voters in five states stretching from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast went to the polls on Tuesday. At the presidential level, Donald Trump crushed his two remaining competitors while Hillary Clinton looked well positioned to extend her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders.

Discussion: Indianapolis Star, Los Angeles Times, National Review, The Moderate Voice and Politico

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

It's Trump's Nomination To Lose* — Tuesday night went about as well as possible for Donald Trump. — Two weeks ago, after a rough stretch of states for Trump, we issued a series of delegate projections that included something called a “path-to-1,237” projection, a set of targets …

Discussion: Power Line, Business Insider and New York Magazine

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg:

Trump Lays Claim to Nomination Backed by Smashing Victories — Blowout victories in five states put the anti-Trump movement in serious jeopardy, with one card left to play. — If Donald Trump didn't kill the “stop Trump” movement on Tuesday night, he left it battered and bruised.

Shane Goldmacher / Politico: Trump starts spending to end Cruz in Indiana

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Primary Takeaways: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Edge Closer to Nominations

Discussion: RedState, The Week and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Indiana looms large for Cruz's slender hopes after Trump sweeps Northeast

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times and The Hill

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Kasich ‘moving ahead’ after brutal losses

Discussion: Washington Post

New York Times:
Donald Trump Sweeps 5 States; Hillary Clinton Takes 4

Discussion: American Prospect, No More Mister Nice Blog, Slate and NPR

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Voters in Eastern Seaboard primaries embrace Trump

Discussion: Politico and Balloon Juice

Saul Hubbard / Register-Guard:
Kasich campaign fails to get him included in Oregon's voters' pamphlet

Discussion: RedState, CBS New York and Politico

Yamiche Alcindor / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders to Reassess Candidacy After Tuesday's Vote, but He'll Stay in Race — Join us for live updates on the five states voting on Tuesday. — Updated, 4:00 p.m. | PHILADELPHIA — Senator Bernie Sanders and his campaign advisers plan to reassess where his candidacy stands …

Discussion: Political Wire, VTDigger, CNBC, Vox, Independent Journal …, New York Magazine, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, AOL, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller, Politico, MSNBC, Mediaite and The Week

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Exclusive: Half of Americans think presidential nominating system ‘rigged’ - poll — More than half of American voters believe that the system U.S. political parties use to pick their candidates for the White House is “rigged” and more than two-thirds want to see the process changed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg View:
Trump Can't Beat Clinton. Who Says?

Discussion: Washington Post and Vox

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:
Clinton decisively wins Democratic primaries in 4 states

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

New York Times:
Pulling Away From Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton Is Turning to the Fall

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider and CNBC

Bernie Sanders:
Sanders Statement on Primary Elections

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Week and Talking Points Memo

Annie Karni / Politico:
Clinton's refusal to quit in 2008 haunts her in 2016

Discussion: Political Wire

Erik Wemple / Washington Post:
Peak town hall: Man confronts Hillary Clinton on crime bill at two separate television events

Discussion: Washington Free Beacon and twitchy.com

al.com:
How many delegates are up for grabs in the Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island primaries?

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hit & Run and MSNBC

Ashley Feinberg / Gawker:

Ted Cruz Desecrates Classic Movie Scene By Calling Hoop a “Basketball Ring” — While stumping in Indiana tonight, Ted Cruz attempted to recreate a classic scene from Hoosiers in the very same gym in which part of the movie (thought not this particular scene) was filmed.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Raw Story, Mother Jones and Prntly

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

IT'S OFFICIAL=> Ted Cruz Is Mathematically ELIMINATED from GOP Race - With Chart — As we predicted on April 2nd.... As of today, April 26, 2016, Ted Cruz is mathematically eliminated from winning the Republican nomination outright. — On April 2nd we predicted that Donald Trump …

Discussion: Politico, DailySurge, Joe Hoft, Walid Shoebat, The Last Tradition and JustOneMinute

John Podhoretz / New York Post: Ted Cruz is crumbling before our very eyes

Allum Bokhari / Breitbart:

Sci-Fi's Hugo Awards Swept by Anti-SJW Authors — Again! — For the second year in a row, nominations for the prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction & fantasy have been swept by the Sad Puppies & Rabid Puppies, two groups of authors and fans who oppose left-wing domination of the community.

Discussion: Vox Popoli

David Barnett / Guardian:

Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign — For the second year running, the biggest prize in science-fiction and fantasy writing has been monopolised by nominations from Sad and Rabid Puppies groups, who campaign against works “overtly to the left”

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Vox Popoli and The Week

Caleb Howe / RedState:

First Exit Poll Info From Super Duper Tuesday Is In, And On The Delegate Process ... Uh Oh, GOP — Bad news in the exits. Remember there are a lot* delegates up for grabs today. And on that topic ... DELEGATES: — CNN reports that 68% of voters in Connecticut say that if nobody gets 1,237 …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

NBC News:
Live Blog: Exit Poll Analysis From Tuesday's Primaries

Discussion: Politicus USA

Wall Street Journal:

Comcast in Talks to Buy DreamWorks Animation for More Than $3 Billion — Deal would join DreamWorks Animation with Comcast's Universal Pictures — Comcast Corp. is in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. for more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Week, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, Deadline, The Verge and Consumerist, more at Mediagazer »

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

The Cult of Sore Losers — Bernie Sanders isn't losing. Just ask many of his backers or listen to some of his own complaints. He's being robbed, a victim of antiquated rules, voter suppression, shady arithmetic and a corrupt Democratic establishment. The swindle includes …

Byron York / Washington Examiner:

In state after state, strong GOP support for Trump's Muslim proposal — What was once furious Republican opposition to Donald Trump's proposal to temporarily ban foreign Muslims from entering the U.S. has turned to virtual silence in the face of widespread GOP voter approval.

Elliot Smilowitz / The Hill:

Trump: Sanders should run as an independent — should run for president as an independent. — “Bernie Sanders has been treated terribly by the Democrats—both with delegates & otherwise,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “He should show them, and run as an Independent!”

D. Brian Burghart / Gawker:

What I Learned About the Washington Post From Four Years Collecting Data on Police Violence — Earlier this month, the Washington Post was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for its project on police violence, “Fatal Force.” The Pulitzer Prize Board singled out the paper …

Discussion: The Daily Caller