California Republicans react to Trump's Super Tuesday

Scott Ma would like John Kasich to be the Republican nominee for president. But unlike some Califoians in his party, he’ll be just fine pulling the lever for Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz or Super Tuesday’s big wier, Donald Trump.

“I am not voting for Beie Sanders and I’m not voting for Hillary Clinton,” Ma said. “I can tell you that.”

But Dave Milbrandt, a professor at Citrus College, wouldn’t go that far.

He started out supporting New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and is now backing Rubio. Milbrandt said if Trump ends up being the nominee, he won’t vote for the current delegate leader who had already won at last six states late Tuesday night.

“Christie disappointed me, to say the least, when he endorsed Trump,” Milbrandt said. “Rubio has a message of hope in a time of conce. But I will not vote for Trump. He doesn’t bring a positive message.”

Rubio didn’t have the best night, but he did win in Miesota.

The political catchphrase Marcomentum appeared to run into a Trump wall built by big delegate wins in Teessee, Georgia, Virginia and Massachusetts. Among the bumps Trump hit — his loss in Miesota and Cruz’s wins in his home state of Texas and a victory in Oklahoma.

With four states voting Saturday — Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana and Maine — Trump continued to look strong as the primary calender entered its second month.

Los Angeles County Republican Party Chairman Mark Vafiandes said he wouldn’t be surprised to see things wrapped up before Califoia, with its 172 delegates, votes in June.

Vafiandes plans to support Trump if he’s the nominee. He said Trump supporters feel like nothing has been accomplished since the GOP took over the House of Representatives in 2010 and took majority control of the Senate in 2014.

“They’re not looking at his politics as much,” he said. “They believe he will get things done because he’s a businessman who has gotten things done.”

Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, said Cruz’s wins on Super Tuesday made things difficult for the movement to stop Trump, which had been spearheaded by Rubio backers.

“The best chance for the Stop Trump movement was Ted Cruz having such a bad night that he wouldn’t be able to continue,” Schnur said, as he explained that Rubio would have been in a better position to take on Trump. “That didn’t happen. So now it’s very hard to see a situation in which any of the other candidates can get a one-on-one shot at Trump before the March 15 primaries.”

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Rubio’s big test will be in his home state of Florida on March 15.

Schnur said there is a flaw in the strategy of having all the candidates remain in the race to slow Trump’s march to the needed 1,237 delegate total to secure the nomination. That concept is built around states that dole out delegates proportionally — allowing each candidate to pick up delegates and hold Trump’s total down.

But Schnur said if Trump comes out on top in the upcoming wier-take-all states, Califoia’s chance on June 7 to have a meaningful say in matters diminishes greatly.

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