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<p>Ted Cruz's conservative crusade for the presidency fought for new life Monday ahead of an Indiana vote that could effectively end the GOP's primary season. The fiery Texas senator hinted at an exit strategy, even as he vowed to compete to the end against surging Republican front-runner Donald Trump.</p>

The coalition of Republicans opposed to Donald J. Trump’s candidacy braced Monday for a debilitating setback as he appeared poised for a victory in Indiana that would put him on track to seal the Republican nomination by the time primary voting ends next month. The Indiana vote has emerged as a decisive and perhaps final test for Senator Ted Cruz, who has abandoned hope of overtaking Mr. Trump in the race but still aims to throw the Republican nominating fight to a contested convention in July. Mr. Cruz, of Texas, has pleaded with Indiana voters in recent days not to...

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter. Trump on the cusp of putting away GOP race If Sunday's NBC/WSJ/Marist poll showing Donald Trump ahead by 15 points in Indiana is correct, then Trump's path to the Republican presidential race would turn into a cakewalk. And this kind of result in Indiana, which holds its primary on Tuesday, would knock out Ted Cruz and the "Stop Trump" movement. The NBC/WSJ/Marist poll found Trump getting support of 49% of likely GOP primary voters...

In a fiery rally speech for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) on Sunday night, Glenn Beck expressed his belief that God has sent us Cruz as “a man who was raised for these times,” and that God has deliberately prolonged the GOP primary season so that every state in the union will be forced to choose between “good or evil.”

This is the most populous state in the nation, but in presidential elections, it has almost always found itself on the sidelines. The last time a Republican primary in California mattered was 52 years ago, when the party nominated Barry Goldwater. But California will finally play an important role in the drama of presidential politics. The 172 Republican delegates up for grabs in the state’s June 7 primary, which in most years has taken place well after the party’s presidential standard-bearer was known, will determine whether Donald J. Trump can clinch the nomination on the last day of voting and...

OSCEOLA, Ind. — Ted Cruz is arguing he still has a path to Republican presidential nomination, even if he loses the primary here Tuesday as expected. “Absolutely, but we intend to do everything possible to win tomorrow,” the U.S. senator from Texas told reporters Monday after a stop in this town in northern Indiana. “I am in for the distance,” Cruz later said. “As long as we have a viable path to victory, I am competing to the end.”

As Ted Cruz heads into the vital Indiana primary tomorrow, his presidential campaign is, by most accounts, losing momentum at a time it can least afford it. Over the weekend, he got bad news: Cruz’s poll numbers are down. A NYT's story revealed that his support is weakening among Republican delegates who Cruz believed were a lock. The governor of the key state of Indiana, which votes tomorrow, again showed himself unable to muster a ringing endorsement for the Texas senator. Ted Cruz Thinks Everyone Is Out to Get Him Cruz’s chief rival, frontrunner Donald Trump, has amassed a large...

Cruz surrogate Glenn Beck is once again encouraging Americans to join him in a fast in the run-up to a crucial primary vote and to spread the word with the hashtag #Tuesdayfast. In a Sunday night Facebook post, Beck wrote: "I would like to ask that you, your family and friends join me for a day of prayers, fasting and humility. To beg the Lord to not remove His hand from us. To turn to Him and ask that He will heal our land. Beginning Monday night and running for 24 hours ending on Tuesday will you pray and if...

Upset that Donald Trump received just a handful of statewide delegates during an electronic vote, his Arizona campaign manager is threatening to sue the Arizona Republican Party. "This stinks to high heaven!" Jeff DeWit shouted at reporters, decrying the results of the at-large delegates. He suggested the website Arizona Republicans used to choose delegates for this summer's national GOP convention, NeverHillary.SimplyVoting.com, was rigged. He offered proof in terms of a screen shot that suggests statewide delegates clicked on a slate supporting Trump. "People clicked the trump button more than any other and we got hosed," he said. Former governor Jan Brewer, a national...

QUESTION OF THE DAY Will Donald Trump reach 1,237 GOP delegates? Question of the Day YES NO NOT SURE

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump holds a double-digit lead over his competitors in Oregon, according to a new poll by Portland-based Hoffman Research Group. Trump has 43 percent support in the poll, followed by Ted Cruz with 26 percent and John Kasich with just 17 percent support. Cruz and Kasich announced last weekend a joint effort to deny Trump the nomination. As part of the strategy, Kasich would clear a path for Cruz in the Indiana primary and Cruz would back down in Oregon and New Mexico. But both candidates have walked away from the arrangement since their campaigns' announcement....

Hardly anybody was watching what Carly Fiorina did Thursday, but just about everybody was talking about it Friday morning: The former Hewlett-Packard executive crushed her six male counterparts in the JV debate of Republican presidential hopefuls. Her sharp command of everything from foreign policy to cybersecurity issues and her presidential poise had Rush Limbaugh and MSNBC's liberal pundits gushing about her performance, virtually guaranteeing her highly improbable campaign a big-time bump and a spot in the varsity lineup... ...Limbaugh replayed her closing statement: "Hillary Clinton lies about Benghazi. She lies about emails. She is still defending Planned Parenthood.... 2016 is...

(Certify letter is an image) Presidential Primary Election - June 7, 2016 Official Certified List of Candidates

Just heard on Fox....breaking. No further details yet as to what announcement is.

Percent In: 87% Delegates at Stake: 38 Status: Win Trump

"We all know that Trump will do very well tonight" in the northeastern liberal states, Mark Levin explains to his listeners, but that's "already taken into account in the projections." Levin reassures conservatives that, in fact, the real race begins after tonight. Despite all of the pundits declaring Trump the nominee following tonight's results, he will face a much tougher road ahead than they want to admit.

Donald Trump has been projected as the winner of the Republican presidential primaries in Pennsylvania and Connecticut, victories that continued the New York real estate mogul’s dominance in contests along the East Coast. Those projections were made by Edison Research as polls closed at 8 p.m., and they relied on exit polls. In Maryland, the Associated Press projected Trump and Hillary Clinton as winners, even though a few polling places in West Baltimore will remain open until 9 p.m.

This is the single most delusional thing you will ever see. Doesn't matter if you're for Trump or Cruz. Atleast you're not for Kasich.

Connecticut 28 (P) Closed Delaware 16 (WTA) Closed Maryland 38 (WTA) Closed Pennsylvania 71 (P) Closed Rhode Island 19 (P) Mixed (P) = Proportional, (WTA) = Winner Take All

"It's not fair!" may be the most pitiful lament in the English language, but Donald Trump seems intent upon adopting it as his battle cry heading into this summer's Republican convention. The GOP's poorly designed nominating process includes more than its share of problems, but is it really unfair to Trump? ..... < snip > ..... open primaries invite abuse from voters whose goals may not involve selecting the party's strongest representative. Those with deep ties to the party deserve greater input than those with tenuous or nonexistent connections. Yet Democrats and Republicans alike have chosen to pretend otherwise. ........