Donovan Slack

USA TODAY

Clinton, Trump rack up victories

Hillary Clinton picked up wins in Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas and Massachusetts. She addressed supporters at a rally in Florida and pledged to "work for every vote" going forward.

"We know we've got work to do, but that work, that work is not to make America great again," she said in a direct hit on Donald Trump's campaign slogan. "America never stopped being great. We have to make America whole."

Trump, meanwhile, scored victories in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Virginia, Vermont and Arkansas. He addressed supporters at a rally in Florida.

"This has been an amazing evening," he said before the last few states were called in his favor. "Already we've won five major states."

He said that he had watched Clinton's speech and asserted that she didn't deserve another four years in Washington.

"She's been there for so long. If she hasn’t straightened it out by now, why elect her again? he said.

Bernie Sanders won Democratic caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota and primaries in Oklahoma and Vermont. He told supporters at a rally in Vermont how much the home-state victory meant.

"It does say something and means so much to me that the people who know me best … have voted so strongly to put us in the White House," the senator said. "Thank you so much!”

Ted Cruz also notched a home-state victory in the Republican primary in Texas. A good showing there had been crucial for his campaign. He also picked up a win in Oklahoma and a win in Alaska.

“We are the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump once, twice, three times!” he told supporters at his Texas rally.

Cruz maintained that his camp would emerge victorious "resoundingly" if it were a head-to-head contest.

"For that to happen we must come together," he said.

But Florida Sen. Marco Rubio did pick up one win over Trump — the Republican caucuses in Minnesota.

Chris Christie facial expressions blow up Twitter

The New Jersey governor stood behind Donald Trump during the New York businessman's press conference in Florida, and it seemed all social media could talk about were his facial expressions.

Did you take my donut?

Ben Carson was in ... Baltimore?

The retired neurosurgeon called Tuesday for a meeting of all five campaigns in Detroit before a scheduled debate on Thursday.

"A house divided cannot stand, and it is imperative the Republican Party exhibit unity by the candidates coming together with a pledge to talk about the many serious problems facing our country, instead of personally attacking each other," he said in a statement issued by his campaign.

While other candidates hopscotched states on the trail Tuesday, Carson — who came under fire for taking a break before to get "a fresh set of clothes" from his home in Florida — took a break Tuesday to attend a family event, per Independent Journal reporter Benny Johnson:

Earlier Tuesday, Trump sparred with Nikki Haley

The New York businessman came out swinging at the South Carolina governor.

Haley, who during an event with Marco Rubio on Monday said Trump should release his tax returns, had a very Southern retort.

Trump calls our correspondent ‘horrible’

At a rally in Ohio on Tuesday, Trump continued denying responsibility for black students being ejected from one of his rallies in Georgia on Monday.

He called USA TODAY correspondent and Des Moines Register reporter Jennifer Jacobs “horrible” for writing about it and her news organization “a failed paper in Iowa.”

“(T)hey wrote this vicious story, and it gets picked up by everybody. And this is a paper that's an enemy of ours, with a writer who is horrible, and they pick it up all over the place!” Trump exclaimed.

Still, the police chief in Georgia confirmed Tuesday that his aides had asked the students to leave the rally before Trump spoke.

Ted Cruz wins (one) court case

An Illinois judge on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the Texas senator’s eligibility for the ballot, USA TODAY’s Aamer Madhani reports:

“An Illinois judge on Tuesday dismissed a legal challenge brought by a voter who contends that Sen. Ted Cruz is ineligible to run for president because he was born in Canada. Judge Maureen Ward Kirby of the Cook County Circuit Court dismissed the complaint brought by Lawrence Joyce, because he failed to properly serve Cruz and members of the Illinois State Board of Elections as required by law.”

Similar lawsuits have also been filed in Texas, New York, Alabama and Utah.

One down, four to go…

Um, this happened...

Hillary takes questions!

The move followed an NBC story Monday that counted the days since the Democratic front-runner did so, and compared her to other presidential candidates:

“Clinton's last media availability took place on December 4 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. She took seven questions from a small group of journalists on a Friday night. In the three months since, Clinton has held hundreds of events across more than 20 states. She did not formally answer questions from her traveling press corps once during that time … "Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich have all held press conferences in the last week.”

Press conferences, while ostensibly for reporters’ benefit, also provide important opportunities for the public to see candidates saying what they think on the fly, rather than sticking to a campaign script.

So what did Hillary say? Via ABC’s Liz Kreutz, Clinton said Trump is doing very well but someone else could still snatch the Republican nomination. She said the GOP race has turned into a turned into “kind of a one upmanship on insulting” that’s inappropriate for a presidential campaign. And she declined to talk about whether Bernie Sanders will be able to continue to compete with her for the Democratic nomination after Tuesday.

Bernie votes for himself 'after a lot of thought'

The senator arrived at his polling station in Vermont around 7:30 a.m. and joked with a worker there about the 12-degree weather (“Nice Vermont day,” the worker quipped). Sanders cast his ballot and then took selfies with voters.

"I will tell you after a lot of thought, I voted for me for president," he told one man, according to a pool report.

As he prepared to leave, reporters asked how he was feeling. "We're feeling great," he replied.

Kasich taunts Trump

The Ohio governor, who was virtually tied for last in the polling average for the Republican field, attempted to taunt Trump with a poll in the one state where he leads:

Rand Paul: Can I get a do-over?

The Kentucky senator joked that he was ready to re-enter the presidential race after the Union Leader in New Hampshire said it regretted endorsing Chris Christie, who has now endorsed Donald Trump:

Alabama official in Twitter tiff

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill dealt with something of a tweetstorm after the state’s website helping voters find their polling places went down.

Merrill alternately appeared to blame voters:

And a contractor:

Before inviting people to call him directly. Like now.

At least he’s accessible, right? The Montgomery Advertiser has more here.

Oh, and emojis...

Twitter created custom emojis that popped up when users employed the #SuperTuesday hashtag.