National News

Cruz planning announcement amid VP speculation

(WASHINGTON, AP) — The Latest on the 2016 presidential campaign. (all times Eastern):

9:55 a.m.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas says in Indiana that he will be making a “major announcement” on Wednesday afternoon amid speculation he will name a running mate even though he trails front-runner Donald Trump.

Cruz says outside an Indianapolis restaurant that Indiana will play a major role in the campaign for the Republican nomination.

He is declining to say what his announcement will be but his aides have identified a “short list” of possible vice presidential candidates. A spokeswoman for Carly Fiorina has confirmed that the former business executive is among those being considered.

Fiorina dropped out of the Republican primary earlier this year and endorsed Cruz.

Cruz cannot get the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the GOP nomination but he’s trying to prevent Trump from crossing the delegate threshold and push the Republican race to a contested convention.

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9:30 a.m.

Hillary Clinton is 232 delegates shy of clinching the Democratic nomination, when including superdelegates.

After winning four of five states Tuesday, she netted dozens more delegates than Bernie Sanders.

She prevailed in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut and Delaware, while Sanders won Rhode Island.

For the night, Clinton won at least 204 delegates to Sanders’ 146.

Based on just primaries and caucuses to date, Clinton now has 1,632 delegates compared to 1,299 for Sanders.

When including superdelegates, or party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton’s total is at 90 percent of the 2,383 needed to win.

She now has 2,151 delegates to Sanders’ 1,338, according to the AP count.

There are still many delegates from Tuesday to be allocated, pending final vote tallies.

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9:20 a.m.

Bernie Sanders’ movement for a political revolution is reaching a crossroads even as he is vowing to campaign against Hillary Clinton through the June primaries.

The Vermont senator says after losses to Clinton in Tuesday’s primaries in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut that he will seek as many delegates as possible to “fight for a progressive party platform.” He acknowledges in an interview with The Associated Press that he has a “very narrow path” to the nomination.

He says he will fight for every delegate and says in the interview that “if I do not win” he will bring delegates to the convention who will fight for a progressive agenda.

Sanders won the Rhode Island primary and now has more than 1,300 delegates though he significantly trails Clinton.

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6:50 a.m.

Will the real Donald Trump stand up? The presidential candidate, fresh off five Republican primary victories in the Northeast, says the Trump that people see on any given day depends on the political circumstances in play at the time.

He’s pushing back against suggestions that he should tone down his combative campaign style as he moves closer to clinching the GOP nomination.

In a phone-in interview Wednesday, the billionaire real estate mogul told CNN that “I may tone it down.” But he quickly added, “I may tone it up.”

Trump, who reportedly has been urged to show a more presidential demeanor on the campaign stump, said, “You have to be flexible. I will determine when I see how other people punch back.”

In the interview on CNN’s “New Day,” he showed no inclination to significantly alter the bombastic campaign style that has landed him within reach of the presidential nomination. “I’m not changing,” Trump told a news conference in Manhattan on Tuesday night.

6:40 a.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, buoyed by his clean sweep of Northeast primaries, is pushing forward with his charge that Democrat Hillary Clinton is “playing the woman card.”

Trump tells CNN’s “New Day” in a telephone interview Wednesday that “she does have the woman card” but said that “a lot of women don’t like Hillary, despite the card.”

Pressed on the issue, the billionaire real estate mogul said that Clinton, who won four of five primaries Tuesday and is closing in on the Democratic Party nomination, “is playing the woman card left and right.”

He said in the interview that “she didn’t play it” when she challenged Barack Obama for the party’s nomination in 2008. But he added, “She’s doing it more now. She’ll be called on it.”

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