Last night’s shellacking by Donald Trump of his opponents John Kasich and Ted Cruz sent a clear signal that Mr. Trump is in great shape heading down the homestretch.
However, as he knows, he still has to close the deal and there still is math to be done. Here are the facts:
1 – Trump still needs 392 of the remaining 734 delegates available to achieve ultimate victory
2 – Between now and June 7, there are only 371 delegates available, so he can’t win before June 7
3 – Believe it or not, there are 7 undeclared delegates from America Samoa, 8 from Guam, 9 from the Virgin Islands and 18 in North Dakota (42 delegates total). If this really does go down to the wire, are these your kingmakers? (Update…and it’s getting kind of strange)
The other key number is 343. These are the number of delegates that have to be won by Cruz and Kasich to prevent Trump from achieving the nomination on the first ballot.
15 states still have to vote, here are the raw numbers (# delegates in parentheses):
June 7
California (172)
Montana (27)
New Jersey (51)
New Mexico (24)
South Dakota (29)
May 24
Washington (44)
May 17
Oregon (28)
May 10
West Virginia (34)
Nebraska (36)
May 3
Indiana (57)
April 26
Rhode Island (19)
Pennsylvania (71)
Maryland (38)
Delaware (16)
Connecticut (28)
It’s easy to see another big day for Trump next week, further limiting what is in the realm of possible for those seeking to derail the businessman from putting “presumptive Republican nominee” in front of his name.
Bottom-line: Trump won’t win before June 7, but it’s really tough to see how he won’t win the nomination.
