Clinton close to party nomination, rival Trump also builds up support

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton emerged from New York’s presidential primary closer to clinching the Democratic nomination and becoming the first woman to reach that milestone. Republican Donald Trump strengthened his own path to the general election with a commanding victory, but has little room for error in the states ahead.

Clinton and billionaire Trump won sweeping victories in the New York primary Tuesday, bolstering their bids to secure the Republican and Democratic nominations for the White House.
It was the most decisive New York primary in decades and leaves self-styled democratic socialist Bernie Sanders with a tough decision on how to proceed as Clinton extends her overwhelming lead over the Vermont senator.
The front-runners now hope to replicate their strong showings in New York in the cluster of Northeastern states next up on the primary calendar.
Following her win in New York, a jubilant Clinton made clear she was moving past her unexpectedly competitive primary battle with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and setting her sights on the general election.
“The race for the nomination is in the home stretch, and victory is in sight,” Clinton declared to cheering supporters.
“Thank you New York,” she said to chants of “Hillary, Hillary, Hillary” from jubilant supporters in a Manhattan hotel, where she walked on stage with her husband Bill Clinton and heavily pregnant daughter Chelsea.
“Today you proved once again there’s no place like home,” said the 68-year-old candidate looking to make history as the first woman president of the United States.
Trump, too, is eager to move past the Republican primaries. With at least 89 of New York’s 95 delegates in hand, he insisted it was “impossible” for any of his rivals to catch him and warned party leaders against trying to take the nomination away from him at the convention.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich won at least three New York delegates; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was in danger of getting shut out. Neither has a mathematical chance of clinching the nomination before the Republican convention in July, though they hope to block Trump’s path and overtake him at the Republican gathering.
Clinton’s triumph padded her delegate lead, putting her 80 percent of the way toward clinching the Democratic nomination that eluded her eight years ago.
Exit polls suggested Democrats were ready to rally around whomever the party nominates. Nearly 7 in 10 Sanders supporters in New York said that they would definitely or probably vote for Clinton if she is the party’s pick.
Sanders energized young people and liberals in New York, as he has across the country, but it wasn’t enough to pull off the upset victory he desperately needed to change the trajectory of the Democratic race. Still, the Vermont senator vowed to keep competing.
“We’ve got a shot to victory,” Sanders said in an interview with The Associated Press. However, his senior adviser, Tad Devine, said later that the campaign planned to “sit back and assess where we are” after a string of contests next week.
Source: Arab News