memeorandum: Bernie Sanders is no fool. He'll back Clinton when he drops out. (Dana Milbank/Washington Post)

10:10 AM ET, April 27, 2016

Top Items:

It's Trump's Nomination To Lose* — Tuesday night went about as well as possible for Donald Trump. — Two weeks ago, after a rough stretch of states for Trump, we issued a series of delegate projections that included something called a “path-to-1,237” projection, a set of targets …

Discussion: Power Line, Business Insider and New York Magazine

Nate Cohn / New York Times:

Why Donald Trump Is Probably Two States From Victory — Donald J. Trump is essentially two key states from the nomination. — By sweeping five states on Tuesday, he pulled only a few hundred Republican delegates short of the 1,237 he needs to win without a contested convention.

Discussion: Vox, Politico, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Real Clear Politics

Chris Cillizza / Washington Post:

Winners and losers from the I-95 primaries … Voters in five states stretching from the mid-Atlantic to the Northeast went to the polls on Tuesday. At the presidential level, Donald Trump crushed his two remaining competitors while Hillary Clinton looked well positioned to extend her delegate lead over Bernie Sanders.

Discussion: Indianapolis Star, Los Angeles Times, National Review, The Moderate Voice and Politico

Sahil Kapur / Bloomberg: Trump Lays Claim to Nomination Backed by Smashing Victories

Shane Goldmacher / Politico: Trump starts spending to end Cruz in Indiana

John Podhoretz / New York Post: Ted Cruz is crumbling before our very eyes

Michael Barbaro / New York Times:
Primary Takeaways: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Edge Closer to Nominations

Discussion: RedState, The Week and Raw Story

Dan Balz / Washington Post:
Indiana looms large for Cruz's slender hopes after Trump sweeps Northeast

Discussion: Politico, Los Angeles Times and The Hill

Philip Rucker / Washington Post:
Voters in Eastern Seaboard primaries embrace Trump

Discussion: Politico, Outside the Beltway and Balloon Juice

New York Times:
Donald Trump Sweeps 5 States; Hillary Clinton Takes 4

Discussion: American Prospect, No More Mister Nice Blog, Slate and NPR

Kyle Cheney / Politico:
Kasich ‘moving ahead’ after brutal losses

Discussion: Washington Post

Saul Hubbard / Register-Guard:
Kasich campaign fails to get him included in Oregon's voters' pamphlet

Discussion: RedState, New York Magazine, CBS New York and Politico

Chris Kahn / Reuters:

Exclusive: Half of Americans think presidential nominating system ‘rigged’ - poll — More than half of American voters believe that the system U.S. political parties use to pick their candidates for the White House is “rigged” and more than two-thirds want to see the process changed, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Discussion: Political Wire and The Week

Yamiche Alcindor / New York Times:

Bernie Sanders to Reassess Candidacy After Tuesday's Vote, but He'll Stay in Race — Join us for live updates on the five states voting on Tuesday. — Updated, 4:00 p.m. | PHILADELPHIA — Senator Bernie Sanders and his campaign advisers plan to reassess where his candidacy stands …

Discussion: New York Magazine, Political Wire, VTDigger, CNBC, Vox, Independent Journal …, Business Insider, ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo, AOL, Politicus USA, The Daily Caller, MSNBC, Politico, Mediaite and The Week

Jonathan Bernstein / Bloomberg View:

Trump Can't Beat Clinton. Who Says? — In the Democratic and Republican presidential races right now, we're hearing a lot of claims about electability in general-election matchups. — Ted Cruz says he's the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton in November, while John Kasich …

Discussion: Washington Post and Vox

Bernie Sanders:
Sanders Statement on Primary Elections

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Daily Kos, The Week and Talking Points Memo

Annie Karni / Politico:
Clinton's refusal to quit in 2008 haunts her in 2016

Discussion: Political Wire

Abby Phillip / Washington Post:
Clinton decisively wins Democratic primaries in 4 states

Discussion: Politico and ABC News

New York Times:
Pulling Away From Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton Is Turning to the Fall

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Washington Free Beacon, Business Insider and CNBC

Ashley Feinberg / Gawker:

Ted Cruz Desecrates Classic Movie Scene By Calling Hoop a “Basketball Ring” — While stumping in Indiana tonight, Ted Cruz attempted to recreate a classic scene from Hoosiers in the very same gym in which part of the movie (thought not this particular scene) was filmed.

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Raw Story, Mother Jones and Prntly

Jim Hoft / The Gateway Pundit:

IT'S OFFICIAL=> Ted Cruz Is Mathematically ELIMINATED from GOP Race - With Chart — As we predicted on April 2nd.... As of today, April 26, 2016, Ted Cruz is mathematically eliminated from winning the Republican nomination outright. — On April 2nd we predicted that Donald Trump …

Discussion: Politico, DailySurge, Joe Hoft, Walid Shoebat, The Last Tradition and JustOneMinute

Allum Bokhari / Breitbart:

Sci-Fi's Hugo Awards Swept by Anti-SJW Authors — Again! — For the second year in a row, nominations for the prestigious Hugo Awards for science fiction & fantasy have been swept by the Sad Puppies & Rabid Puppies, two groups of authors and fans who oppose left-wing domination of the community.

Discussion: Vox Popoli

David Barnett / Guardian:

Hugo awards shortlist dominated by rightwing campaign — For the second year running, the biggest prize in science-fiction and fantasy writing has been monopolised by nominations from Sad and Rabid Puppies groups, who campaign against works “overtly to the left”

Discussion: Los Angeles Times, Vox Popoli and The Week

Frank Bruni / New York Times:

The Cult of Sore Losers — Bernie Sanders isn't losing. Just ask many of his backers or listen to some of his own complaints. He's being robbed, a victim of antiquated rules, voter suppression, shady arithmetic and a corrupt Democratic establishment. The swindle includes …

Baltimore Sun:

DeRay Mckesson finishes 6th in Democratic primary for Baltimore mayor … Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson finished in sixth place Tuesday in the Democratic primary for Baltimore mayor. — With 95 percent of results tallied, Mckesson garnered 3,008 votes — or 2.5 percent of the total.

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Gateway Pundit and theGrio

Caleb Howe / RedState:

First Exit Poll Info From Super Duper Tuesday Is In, And On The Delegate Process ... Uh Oh, GOP — Bad news in the exits. Remember there are a lot* delegates up for grabs today. And on that topic ... DELEGATES: — CNN reports that 68% of voters in Connecticut say that if nobody gets 1,237 …

Discussion: John Hawkins' Right Wing News

NBC News:
Live Blog: Exit Poll Analysis From Tuesday's Primaries

Discussion: Politicus USA

Matt Ford / The Atlantic:

The Racist Roots of Virginia's Felon Disenfranchisement — Last Friday, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe restored voting rights to more than 200,000 people with previous felony convictions. It's a momentous stroke in both scope and effect; with an eye towards the 2016 races …

Wall Street Journal:

Comcast in Talks to Buy DreamWorks Animation for More Than $3 Billion — Deal would join DreamWorks Animation with Comcast's Universal Pictures — Comcast Corp. is in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. for more than $3 billion, according to people familiar with the matter …

Discussion: Politico, New York Times, The Week, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, Deadline, The Verge and Consumerist, more at Mediagazer »

Fox News:

NY judge decides Trump University case going to trial — A New York judge decided Tuesday that a fraud case against Donald Trump over his former school for real estate investors will go to trial - raising the possibility that the Republican presidential primary front-runner could testify during campaign season.