Bernie Sanders Wins Maine Caucuses

Democrat Bernie Sanders has won the Maine caucuses, beating former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic nomination race.

With 91% of the vote counted, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is polling 64%, while former Hillary Clinton has 36%.

In the Republican race, Marco Rubio easily won Puerto Rico’s primary, beating Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump remain overall leaders in the nomination campaigns.

On March 6, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders clash on a number of issues in a CNN-hosted debate in Flint, Michigan.

They traded accusations on economy and trade, with Hillary Clinton saying her rival voted against a bailout of the US car industry in 2009.

“I went with them. You did not. If everybody had voted the way he [Bernie Sanders] did, I believe the auto industry would have collapsed, taking four million jobs with it,” Hillary Clinton said.

Bernie Sanders countered by saying: “I will be damned if it was the working people of this country who have to bail out the crooks on Wall Street.”

He described the measures taken at the time as “the Wall Street bailout where some of your [Hillary Clinton’s] friends destroyed this economy”.

During March 5 voting, Bernie Sanders took two states – Kansas and Nebraska – but Hillary Clinton maintained her Democratic front-runner status after a big victory in Louisiana.

While the win in Puerto Rico will boost Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s campaign, it sends just 23 delegates to the Republican convention which nominates a presidential candidate.

Republican hopefuls need the votes of 1,237 delegates to get the nod for the presidential race proper.

Marco Rubio still trails well behind Donald Trump and Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

Speaking after wins in the Republican Kentucky caucuses and Louisiana primary election on Saturday, Donald Trump told a news conference: “I would love to take on Ted Cruz one on one.”

“Marco Rubio had a very very bad night and personally I call for him to drop out of the race. I think it’s time now that he dropped out of the race. I really think so.”

Ted Cruz – who won Republican caucuses in Kansas and Maine – said he believed that “as long as the field remains divided, it gives Donald an advantage”.