After winning two more primary contests on Saturday night, Ted Cruz said supporters of Marco Rubio and John Kasich should now support his campaign because it's the only one that can beat Donald Trump. Photo: Getty By Patrick O’Connor Patrick O’Connor The Wall Street Journal CANCEL Biography March 6, 2016 8:05 p.m. ET 28 COMMENTS The race for the Republican presidential nomination looks increasingly like a two-man contest between front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz after the pair split four contests over the weekend . The results ratchet up pressure on the two remaining candidates—Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio—to exit the race if they don’t come out on top in winner-take-all primaries in their respective home states on March 15. Mr. Rubio got a boost Sunday with a convincing win in the Puerto Rico primary . Mr. Cruz on Saturday won GOP caucuses in Kansas and Maine and finished a closer-than-expected second to Mr. Trump in both the Louisiana primary and Kentucky caucus. The Texas senator, backed by a state-of-the-art voter-turnout operation, also trimmed the front-runner’s delegate lead ever so slightly. In contrast, Mr. Rubio finished a distant third in Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana and was the only Republican not to claim a delegate in Maine because he fell short of the 10% threshold required to qualify. Mr. Trump late Saturday called on Mr. Rubio to step aside so that the businessman could square off in a head-to-head contest with Mr. Cruz. More on Election 2016 Clinton, Sanders Clash in Flint Democratic Debate March 7, 2016 Rust Belt Could Be Trump’s Best Route to White House March 6, 2016 Democrats Eye Next Fights March 6, 2016 Trump Is Ahead of GOP Rivals in Michigan but Trails Clinton March 6, 2016 Cruz Wins Kansas, Maine Caucuses March 6, 2016 “I think it’s time for Marco to clean the deck,” Mr. Trump said Saturday in West Palm Beach, Fla. “I think it’s time now that he drop out.” The Rubio camp has pushed back hard against any suggestion that he exit the race. The senator himself is predicting victory in Florida on March 15, and he told a group in Puerto Rico on Saturday night “this map only gets better for us” as the contest progresses. Rubio aides point out that, although Mr. Cruz has more wins, their candidate outpaced him in more populous primary states, including Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia. But public-opinion surveys suggest Messrs. Rubio and Kasich both have a lot of ground to make up. Mr. Trump boasts a double-digit lead in Michigan , which votes Tuesday, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll, followed by Mr. Cruz, Mr. Rubio and then Mr. Kasich. Public polling in Florida and Ohio isn’t recent enough to reflect the current standings in the race, but an internal poll conducted for a group trying to deny Mr. Trump the nomination showed Mr. Rubio within striking distance of the front-runner. The Cruz campaign is trying to peel votes away from the home-state senator by opening 10 campaign offices in Florida. Mr. Kasich has expressed doubts that any of the four remaining Republicans would collect the 1,237 delegates required to claim the nomination before the party descends on Cleveland for its convention in July. Eager to justify his decision to stay in the race after failing to win a single contest, Mr. Kasich seemed to relish the potential chaos. “Think about how much education our kids are going to get, about the way in which we pick a president,” he said in an ABC interview Sunday. “I think it will be very cool.” ENLARGE Sen. Marco Rubio spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference last week in Maryland. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/European Pressphoto Agency The chief strategist for Mr. Kasich’s campaign circulated a memo over the weekend arguing the calendar gets more favorable for the Ohio governor as the race...

• published: 07 Mar 2016
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