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          Next Two Weeks Pivotal in US Presidential Nominating Contest

   by VOA News

   The U.S. presidential candidates on Wednesday moved past the excitement
   of Super Tuesday voting and focused on the next two weeks, when more
   than a dozen states and several territories hold primary elections or
   caucuses that will likely winnow the number of those still campaigning.

   Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump strengthened their
   grips on each party's presidential nominations, racking up wins in key
   states Tuesday, when the largest number of states hold primaries or
   caucuses on the same day.

   ''''For Democrats, the next big contest will be the primary election
   March 8 in Michigan, a populous state that accounts for 148 delegates
   to the national party's convention in July. Michigan accounts for more
   than 10 percent of the total delegate votes necessary to become the
   party's candidate for president in the general election, held this year
   on November 8.

   Upcoming contests

   Former Secretary of State Clinton led her rival, U.S. Senator Bernie
   Sanders, 50 percent to 40 percent in a February 18 survey of likely
   Michigan voters by Public Policy Polling. The two are scheduled to
   debate Sunday (8 p.m. EST / 0100 UTC Monday) in Flint, a city at the
   center of a drinking-water contamination crisis.

   For the Republicans, primary votes in delegate-rich Ohio and Florida on
   March 15 could narrow the number of party candidates.

   Ohio has 66 delegates and Florida has 99, all going to the candidate
   finishing first in election - the so-called "winner-take-all" system,
   in contrast to other states that allocate delegates either
   proportionally or on some other basis.

   Ohio Governor John Kasich and Florida Senator Marco Rubio are under
   particular pressure to win their respective states' contests; political
   analysts say their candidacies may not survive a home-state loss.

   Both Kasich and Rubio have finished well behind businessman Trump and
   Texas Senator Ted Cruz in almost all of this year's presidential
   preliminaries.

   With active campaigning underway in so many states during the coming
   two weeks, candidates have begun increasing their advertising to woo
   potential voters. Before the Super Tuesday voting, Republicans'
   anti-Trump ads outnumbered pro-Trump commercials nearly 3-to-1, and
   that ratio is likely to grow.

   Attack ads to increase

   Three outside groups, Our Principles, American Future Fund and Club for
   Growth, have laid plans for millions of dollars in new ads attacking
   front-runner Trump.

   Conservative Solutions, a "superPAC" political action committee that
   backs Rubio and opposes Trump, has reserved $6 million of ad time for
   broadcast in Michigan, Florida and two other big states voting soon -
   Illinois and Missouri.

   On the Democratic side, Michigan appears to be a "battleground" state
   between Clinton and Sanders.

   The senator from Vermont, who has strong financial backing but fell
   well short of Clinton's vote totals on Super Tuesday, is allocating
   two-thirds or more of the donations to his campaign on advertising
   there.

   WATCH: State-by-state Democratic results

   Clinton, who hopes to become the first woman elected U.S. president,
   won Tuesday's primary votes in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
   Massachusetts, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Sanders, who says he is a
   Democratic socialist, won his home state of Vermont plus Colorado,
   Minnesota and Oklahoma.

   On the Republican side, Trump took Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia,
   Massachusetts, Tennessee, Virginia and Vermont. Senator Ted Cruz took
   his home state of Texas, as well as Oklahoma and Alaska. Florida
   Senator Marco Rubio picked up his first win of the primary season in
   Minnesota.

   Opinion polls

   The results were not surprising. Opinion polls had showed Trump and
   Clinton with large leads in Super Tuesday states and nationally. In
   their victory speeches, each candidate focused on the other, rather
   than their primary opponents.

   WATCH: State-by-state Republican results

   "America never stopped being great," Clinton said at a rally in
   Florida, referencing Trump's campaign slogan. "We have to make America
   whole," she said, adding that the rhetoric on the Republican side "has
   never been lower."

   At his own speech in Florida, Trump shot back. "She wants to make
   America whole again. I'm trying to figure what that's all about. Making
   America great again is going to be much better than making America
   whole again."

   Trump also spoke of his rival, Rubio, whom he has clashed with fiercely
   over the past week. "I know it as a very rough night for Marco Rubio.
   He worked hard, he spent a lot of money. He is a lightweight, like I
   have said many times," Trump said.

   "Rubio was the big loser of the night," Trump added.

   WATCH: Report by VOA's Jim Malone

   ''
   Speaking to a large crowd in his home state late Tuesday, Sanders
   stayed optimistic.

   "This campaign, as I think all of you know, is not just about electing
   a president, it is about transforming America. It is about making our
   great nation the country we know it has the potential to be."

   Sanders stressed that Democratic primaries are proportional, and that
   they award delegates according to the vote count. "By the end of
   tonight, we are going to win many hundreds of delegates," he said.

   VOA's WIlliam Gallo contributed to this report. Some material also came
   from AP.

   ''
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/nex-two-weeks-pivotal-in-us-presidential-nominating-contest/3216478.html