Super Tuesday in US Republican Party potentially coming apart- analysts

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) WASHINGTON March 1 (KUNA) -- As voters in a dozen US states head to the polls on the pivotal Super Tuesday analysts are saying that the Republican Party is potentially coming apart no matter who ultimately becomes the party's nominee for president or how long it takes.The Washington Post in a front-page news story on Monday said this: "At a moment when Republicans had hoped to begin taking on Hillary Clinton -- who is seemingly on her way to wrapping up the Democratic nomination -- the Republican Party has instead become consumed by a crisis over its identity and core values that is almost certain to last through the July party convention if not the rest of the year." Florida Senator Marco Rubio who aims to become the establishment Republican presidential nominee over insurgent outsider Donald Trump has spent the last few days describing Trump as a "con man" who is "unelectable".And firebrand conservative Texas Senator Ted Cruz who also is trying to push Trump aside and claim the Republican nomination is consistently telling Republican voters that if Trump is the party nominee Clinton will win the election in November.To illustrate the state of the Republican presidential free-for-all consider these recent quotes from the candidates who are attacking each other in highly petty personal ways -- a tactic that billionaire businessman Trump started first: Cruz on Trump: "Multiple news reports have reported about his dealings with for example S&A Construction which was owned by 'Fat Tony' Salerno who is a mobster who is in jail. It is owned by two of the major New York crime families." Trump also has taken heat in recent days for refusing to clearly disavow former Louisiana politician David Duke a former member of the racist group the Ku Klux Klan.Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina who dropped out of the Republican presidential race several weeks ago said last week that he would support Democrat Clinton if Trump is his party's nominee.Left to sort out all this are U.S. voters. On Tuesday known as Super Tuesday because of the large number of states in play polls show Trump and Clinton are expected to emerge with the lion's share of delegates.Alabama Arkansas Georgia Massachusetts Minnesota Oklahoma Tennessee Texas Vermont and Virginia will hold primaries for both parties on Tuesday.Alaska will hold its Republican caucus while American Samoa -- which is a territory not a state -- will caucus for Democrats. Colorado will caucus for both parties.On Saturday Clinton soundly defeated Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the South Carolina primary by 74 percent to 26 percent winning African Americans by a 6-to-1 margin and picking up 39 up-for-grabs delegates to 14 for Sanders. Clinton now has just a 26-delegate lead over Sanders 91-65 but that lead is expected to widen significantly after Tuesday when Clinton is expected to win all the Southern states in play.Trump is also expected to win the Southern states on Tuesday with the exception of the biggest prize of the day -- Texas -- where home-state Senator Cruz is expected to prevail.But the problem for Cruz as well as Rubio is that they are dividing the Republican vote among the non-Trump candidates which still also include Ohio Governor John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson. Thus Trump continues to win primaries with what could be a ceiling of about 35 percent of the Republican vote. If Trump were facing only one opponent as is the case with the Democrats in the Clinton vs. Sanders match-up Trump might well begin losing.But Rubio vows he will fight Trump to the bitter end possibly all the way to the Republican convention in July in Cleveland Ohio. If Trump fails to capture enough delegates to claim the nomination by the time the primary season ends in June the Republicans could be forced to decide their nominee at a brokered convention in which party officials cut deals to sort it out. (end) rm.gta