--- title: Morning Must Reads: March 2 description: Morning Must Reads: March 2 canonical: https://time.com/4244460/how-republicans-hope-to-stop-trump/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-02T15:00:08.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T17:08:53.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Morning Must Reads: March 2 og:description: Morning Must Reads: March 2 og:url: https://time.com/4244460/how-republicans-hope-to-stop-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62a8bfe70f1b035/69887ff1a988cabc5b6b6d27/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Campaign Rally In Louisville og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Morning Must Reads: March 2 twitter:description: Morning Must Reads: March 2 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62a8bfe70f1b035/69887ff1a988cabc5b6b6d27/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How Republicans Hope to Stop Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:08 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2016 3:00 PM UTC  Donald Trump campaigns in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 1, 2016. Donald Trump campaigns in Louisville, Kentucky, on March 1, 2016. Stephen J. Cohen—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:08 PM UTCPublished: Mar 2, 2016 3:00 PM UTC Super Tuesday offered few surprises as **Donald Trump** and **Hillary Clinton** thundered along on the paths to their respective party’s nomination. Clinton opened up a 200-delegate lead over **Bernie Sanders**, even before her commanding lead among super-delegates is considered, essentially eliminating the threat of his candidacy to her nomination. But Sanders’ well-funded effort isn’t stopping anytime soon as he pledges to fight all the way to the convention, not necessarily for the nomination, but for influence over the Democratic Party’s platform and agenda. Trump has opened up a narrower delegate lead over his many GOP rivals, who continue to compete for support across the party. But despite the arguments of candidates like **Ted Cruz** and **John Kasich**, most party strategists believe now that the wide field is the only way they can stop Trump from hitting the 1,237 delegates required to win the nomination on the first ballot, with **Marco Rubio** playing well in Florida on March 15, Kasich in his home state of Ohio, and Cruz in the series of smaller primaries and caucuses until then. None of them has a clear path to hitting that threshold on their own, as the race shifts to provoking a contested convention to block the bombastic delegate leader. The new reality comes as GOP efforts to engage Trump are kicked into high gear, as Our Principles PAC, a small group formed just two months ago, becomes one of the leading vehicles for taking on Trump. A donor call late Tuesday brought a significant cash infusion, with more likely to come, as veterans of the **Jeb Bush** campaign and others coalesce behind a frantic, two-week effort to halt Trump’s momentum before it’s too late—if it’s not too late already. The group is looking to gather “[salacious](http://time.com/4244278/super-tuesday-primary-results-donald-trump-ted-cruz-marco-rubio/)” material on Trump in hopes of breaking into the media bloodstream. Why the two Apple encryption cases are different. The Supreme Court weighs abortion. And Lindsey Graham changes his mind about Cruz. Here are your must-reads: **Must Reads** [How Donald Trump Made Tuesday Super Again ](http://time.com/4244278/super-tuesday-primary-results-donald-trump-ted-cruz-marco-rubio/)He won big, but didn’t shut out his rivals—yet \[TIME\] [Clinton Wins Big on Super Tuesday, Sanders Vows to Fight On ](http://time.com/4244252/super-tuesday-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-wins/)She takes a near-insurmountable delegate lead, TIME’s Sam Frizell write [Cruz’s Texas Supporters Worry He Can’t Beat Trump ](http://time.com/4244302/ted-cruz-super-tuesday-texas-donald-trump/)He won Texas, but he has a long road ahead, TIME’s Jay Newton-Small reports [Sanders Campaign Will Travel On, but Path to Victory Is All but Blocked ](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/02/upshot/sanders-campaign-will-travel-on-but-path-to-victory-is-all-but-blocked.html?em%5Fpos=medium&emc=edit%5Fcn%5F20160302&nl=first-draft&nl%5Fart=8&nlid=55003713&ref=img&te=1&%5Fr=0)Trouble for the Vermont senator \[The Upshot\] [How Political Science Helps Explain the Rise of Trump: Most Voters Aren’t Ideologues ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/03/02/how-political-science-helps-explain-the-rise-of-trump-most-voters-arent-ideologues/)For most voters, the issues aren’t of paramount importance \[Washington Post\] [Republican Group to Intensify Campaign Against Trump ](http://www.nytimes.com/live/super-tuesday-2016-elections/group-formed-to/)Super PAC fundraises and staffs up for last-ditch effort \[New York Times\] **Sound Off** “Making America Great Again is going to be so much better than Make America Whole Again” — Donald Trump declaring victory on Super Tuesday by trying to Trump Hillary Clinton’s new slogan “So long as the field remains divided, Donald Trump’s path to the nomination remains more likely.” — Ted Cruz arguing for consolidation in the GOP field **Bits and Bites** [A Senator Who Joked About Killing Ted Cruz Says Republicans Might Have to Rally—Behind Cruz](http://time.com/4244223/super-tuesday-donald-trump-ted-cruz-lindsey-graham/) \[TIME\] [People on Twitter Were Worried About Chris Christie](http://time.com/4244162/chris-christie-twitter-trump-super-tuesday/) \[TIME\] [Republican Super PACs Aired 6,000 Ads Against Trump Before Super Tuesday](http://time.com/4244088/super-tuesday-donald-trump-super-pac-ads/) \[Center for Public Integrity\] [High Stakes for Supreme Court Arguments on Abortion Case](http://time.com/4240336/supreme-court-abortion-texas-whole-womens-health/) \[TIME\] [Accounts Differ on Why Black Students Ejected From Trump Rally](http://time.com/4243773/donald-trump-protesters-valdosta-state-university/) \[TIME\] [How the Two Apple Encryption Cases Are Different](http://time.com/4242709/apple-fbi-encryption-new-york-san-bernardino/) \[TIME\] [What Bin Laden’s Will and Other Al Qaeda Papers Show](http://time.com/4243275/osama-bin-laden-will-al-qaeda-papers-documents-public-records/) \[TIME\] [Here Are Trump and Rubio’s Best Schoolyard Insults](http://time.com/4242827/donald-trump-marco-rubio-insults/) \[TIME\] [Obama Meets With GOP Leaders Over Supreme Court Nomination](http://time.com/4243221/obama-republicans-supreme-court-nominations/) \[Associated Press\] [Paul Ryan Condemns Bigotry After David Duke’s Endorsement of Donald Trump](http://time.com/4242971/paul-ryan-bigotry-white-supremacy-donald-trump-kkk/) \[TIME\] [These Nine House Republicans Voted Against Naming a Post Office for Maya Angelou](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/03/02/these-nine-house-republicans-voted-against-naming-a-post-office-for-maya-angelou/) \[Washington Post\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4244460/how-republicans-hope-to-stop-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4244460/how-republicans-hope-to-stop-trump/"},"headline":"How Republicans Hope to Stop Trump","datePublished":"2016-03-02T15:00:08.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T17:08:53.000Z","description":"Morning Must Reads: March 2","url":"https://time.com/4244460/how-republicans-hope-to-stop-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election","Morning Must Reads"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62a8bfe70f1b035/69887ff1a988cabc5b6b6d27/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte62a8bfe70f1b035/69887ff1a988cabc5b6b6d27/trump1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Campaign Rally In Louisville","caption":"Donald Trump Campaign Rally In Louisville","creditText":"Stephen J. 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