"The burst of hires will have to navigate a political operation unlike that of any modern major presidential candidate, one where loyalty is valued above all else and advisors seldom challenge the candidate's vision. In the past month, Trump has quickly grown his campaign staff to deal with unforeseen or underestimated problems, like needing experienced staff members to monitor delegates in each state so as not to lose any more to his chief rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).

"A larger staff limits Trump's ability to micromanage various aspects of his campaign or continue to demand near-complete secrecy. It also shifts at least some power away from his tiny circle of dedicated top staffers, most of whom travel nearly everywhere with him: Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, deputy campaign manager Michael Glassner, press secretary Hope Hicks and social media director Daniel Scavino.

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"...Preparing for the convention and protecting Trump's delegate count has become one of the campaign's most urgent priorities, and top leaders have quickly assigned several staff members to the cause. On Wednesday, [delegate guru Paul] Manafort met with this team in New York, along with Lewandowski and Glassner.

"'The circle is getting wider and wider' said Barry Bennett, Carson's former campaign manager who is now a senior advisor to Trump. 'Corey's in charge, but we all have access, and we all have our marching orders.'"

Here's what we know heading into the New York primary battle (campaign season motto: "If you can make it here, you'll make it anywhere. But come on...you probably won't make it here.")

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--Donald Trump's magic number has now increased: He'd now need to win 63 percent of the remaining pledged delegates up for grabs to reach the convention with a majority, up from the pre-Wisconsin 61 percent.

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--Trump didn't do well with women last night. But he didn't do too well with men either. And what's interesting is: in Wisconsin exit polls, both demographics had basically the same reaction to him. Now, unfortunately for him, the reaction wasn't all that positive. But it wasn't really any worse among women than it was among men -- that despite a week that many assumed, based on available evidence, would send his support among women in particular plummeting. Of course, that was just one set of exit polls, in one state. But the data didn't back the narrative.

--The winners in both parties last night won big. They just didn't win big enough to make up the ground they needed to to compensate for all those other times when they didn't win. Ted Cruz nabbed nearly 86 percent of the delegates up for grabs last night -- but he also fell short of his goal (at this point, he needed nearly 96 percent.) So his odds just got longer too. The same goes for Bernie Sanders.

The race is now in Trump country. Not only did the Monmouth poll out today say he had the support of a majority of New York's GOP primary voters -- 52 percent -- it also suggested that that support was currently widespread enough across the state's congressional districts to potentially deliver the overwhelming majority of delegates apportioned on that basis too.

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The poll suggested Republican voters in New York weren't giving Trump much of a favored son edge: 7 in 10 said his roots there made no difference to them, with the rest divided evenly between those who said it made them proud, and those who said they were embarrassed by the association. But that doesn't mean there's no home field advantage. And for the first (and perhaps only) time in the race, it's possible the Trump ground game may outstrip Cruz's.

"After celebrating his Republican primary win in Wisconsin on Tuesday night, Sen. Ted Cruz rattled off numbers that his TV audience may not have known: 69 percent of the vote in Utah; 18 friendly delegates in North Dakota; six delegates in Colorado; at least 36 delegates in the Badger State, which unnamed members of the media had called 'perfect for Donald Trump,'" reported Dave Weigel.

"Cruz, a senator from Texas, did not mention the next primary, in New York, where 95 delegates could wipe those gains away in one night.

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"Donald Trump, a fixture in media and culture here since Cruz was in elementary school, enjoys broader support in New York than he has in any previous primary state. The conservative infrastructure that lifted Cruz in Wisconsin has no analogue in New York. Talk radio hosts such as Charlie Sykes spent months attacking Trump; their counterparts here have liked him for years.

"'We don’t really like Cruz, and Donald is one of us,' said John Catsimatidis, a billionaire grocery store mogul and 2013 Republican mayoral candidate who now hosts a talk show. ..."

Donald Trump isn't the only candidate back on home turf: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have both already left Wisconsin nice way, way behind.

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"Hillary Clinton launched a fierce new two-pronged attack on rival Bernie Sanders on Wednesday, questioning the persistent challenger's bona fides as a Democrat and his qualifications to run the country," reported Anne Gearan and John Wagner from Philadelphia.

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"In comments to a union gathering here and in interviews, the Democratic front-runner did not hide her frustration and annoyance with Sanders and his underdog assault as the once-tame Democratic primary turns increasingly testy.

"'We both want to make our economy work for everyone, not just those at the top,' Clinton told a union audience here. 'But Senator Sanders and I have some real differences about how we would go about achieving our goals as president.

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"'And like a lot of people, I am concerned that some of his ideas just won't work, because the numbers don’t add up. Others won’t even pass Congress, or they rely on Republican governors suddenly having a conversion experience and becoming progressives,' she asserted. 'In a number of important areas, he doesn’t have a plan at all.'" (She vented even more to Glenn Thrush a few days ago in a podcast interview released today.)

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For its part, the Sanders team is increasingly vocal about the fact they're inclined not to leave all the contested convention fun to Republicans. Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told USA Today that they're getting for a possible floor fight in Philadelphia: "We have begun some discussions internally on how that will be handled."

Clinton isn't the only frustrated Democratic candidate in the race. Last night brought Sanders a big win, and this headline from the next primary season battlefield:

After half of Twitter pushed back on the critique, Clinton weighed in to offer her support:

Finally, Sanders himself jumped in. (Party unity update: The healing has not yet begun.)

THE VIEW FROM THE FIELD: TOUGH CROWD

New York isn't solidly-blue territory. Most of New York City is (or as close as you can get.) And if you were looking for a New York City Republican, the place you'd be least likely to encounter one is in the Bronx, where fewer than 1 in 10 voters are registered GOP voters.

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There are so few Republicans in the Bronx, in fact, that you could probably fit them all in a single Dominican-Chinese restaurant.

Or maybe not.

Today was the first day of the rest if Ted Cruz's post-Wisconsin primary life -- and he was "thrilled to be back in New York," he said. His pitch: Sure, I may have used your state as an adjective (and not a positive one) on the campaign trail this year. But it's not awkward. It's not awkward unless we let it be awkward. (When he pointed to "New York values" earlier in the race, he said today, he just meant the liberal ones.)

...and hey -- maybe NY is Cruz country after all!

No one has ever missed Wisconsin nice as much as Ted Cruz missed Wisconsin nice today, probably.

Welcome to the #BronxCheer portion of the Republican primary calendar. For most of us, it will last two weeks. For Ted Cruz, it may feel much, much longer.

Team Cruz is giving its own New York welcome to native son Donald Trump:

So are protesters...

...and supporters.

GET EXCITED: If this election year was missing one thing, it was a trailer from GOP convention organizers hyping the "excitement" waiting in Cleveland. That is: missing, until now.

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If you take just one message from this clip, it's that the Republican Party thinks you should be very, very excited about what's going to happen at the convention this July. Or maybe you were already excited -- in which case, get more excited. As the video notes: you probably won't want to miss this one...

TRAIL MIX: There have already been reports that some corporations are hesitant to be connected to the Republican convention this year, to keep their distance from Trump controversy. But they don't want to risk looking unbalanced -- so there are signs the Democratic convention may be hit by the Trump effect too.

--It is as the prophets foretold:

--Speaking of hell freezing over: If you're in D.C., brace yourselves...the polar vortex is BACK.

YOUR DAILY TRAIL PIT STOP: Of course, ice isn't all bad; sometimes it can even warm the coldest heart. Behold: Crusoe the Celebrity Dachshund, playing hockey.