They Don’t Call the Game in the Middle of the Fourth Quarter

Donald Trump had a great night last night as he swept all five primaries, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, winning landslides of more than 30 percentage points over his rivals, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Gov. John Kasich of Ohio. 

Even The New York Times finally gave Trump some respect saying, “His routs represented a breakthrough: He received more than half the vote in every state, after months of winning most primaries by only pluralities.”

Ever boastful, Trump said, “When the boxer knocks out the other boxer, you don’t have to wait around for a decision,” at an election-night appearance before supporters at Trump Tower in New York. He added according to reporting by the NYT’s Patrick Healy and Jonathan Martin, “As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”

The problem for Mr. Trump is that, while he would like for the campaign to be over, it’s not, and last night he chose the wrong sport to use as an analogy.

The primary campaign is more akin to a football game than a boxing match; every state is another kick-off and every play can be a game changer.

And there are a lot of downs left.

There are still a number of state primaries and conventions, and ultimately the delegates to the Republican National Convention will make the decision who will represent the GOP in the General Election.

And in that Donald Trump still doesn’t seem to have figured out that the definition of winning is getting 1,237 votes at the convention—not “coming in first”—but convincing a majority of delegates that he’s the best candidate to represent the Republican Party against Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.

And that’s the part of the game Trump has yet to win.

Despite the broad support Donald Trump garnered last night—he won among the affluent and college-educated as well as with blue-collar voters and those with no more than a high school education, according to exit polls, unease about Mr. Trump’s candidacy in some quarters of the GOP persists.

According to The New York Times‘ reports on exit polling, about a quarter of Republican primary voters in Connecticut, Maryland and Pennsylvania said they would not support Trump if he were the party’s nominee.

The NYT’s Healy and Martin report that the resistance to Mr. Trump was greatest among Mr. Kasich’s supporters, who are more moderate-leaning: Six in 10 said they would not vote for Mr. Trump in November.

Rumors are swirling that Ted Cruz may announce his vice presidential choice early, as the exit polls show Trump has yet to make the case that he can unite the GOP to defeat the Democrats in the General Election, and the voters in the country’s most populous and diverse state—California—have yet to speak.

There are many minutes left on the clock and plenty of time for a game changing play, such as a Cruz VP announcement.

What Trump is demanding is that the referees call the game in the middle of the fourth quarter; we disagree and think the teams should play until the delegates vote and the clock runs out at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.