Even after the results came in last night that Donald Trump had won seven states, Ted Cruz three, and Marco Rubio one, the question still remained about what it meant. Ordinarily, a candidate with Trump’s results would be all but nominated, collecting a steady succession of endorsements. But Trump season is not ordinary, and therefore we could read tweets from people like conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt saying things like “Momentum tonight is flowing against @realDonaldTrump even as he racks up most wins” and “Biggest surprise of night is @marcorubio win in MN. Changed a hundred headlines.” Yes, that is where things now are. A hundred headlines—nay, a thousand.

In a world based on reason or respect for numbers, Marco Rubio would be thanking everyone and going home. But in this current world, we must live with him. He is like a big-budget Dick Morris memoir that the publisher is trying vainly to spare from the remainder bin. His backers cannot force us to back him, but they insist on making everyone take a second, third, fourth, and fifth look. He’s beautiful, right? Look at the face and hair. So lifelike! And so we see the man who had a victory in 1 of 11 states yesterday saying, “We are seeing in state after state, his numbers coming down, our numbers going up.” Yes, and Novak Djokovic keeps getting worse at tennis while I keep getting better.

Where other candidates in his position would have delivered a concession speech, Rubio expressed inexplicable optimism and described himself as an “underdog” Tuesday night. Yes, Rubio, erstwhile darling of the Republican donor class has positioned himself as a dark horse candidate. (“I’m just wondering if there’s a certain amount of denial that you’re in about this race,” a concerned Jake Tapper asked him, as the results rolled in.) But Rubio strategists long ago abandoned hope of a traditional win, plotting instead to deny Trump just enough delegates to unseat him at the convention. As New York’s Ed Kilgore points out, it is Rubio, not Trump, who is attempting to engineer a hostile takeover of the Republican party come June.

If nothing else, the Democratic race provides contrast between the parties. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton might be causing minor rancor among Democrats, but this is the gentlest Democratic primary season I can remember. Imagine if Martin O’Malley were going on television after Clinton’s victories yesterday and telling viewers that Democrats have begun “to unmask the true nature of the front-runner” and calling her a “con artist” and pledging to travel across the country in a pickup truck to stop her nomination. That is, of course, what Rubio is saying about Trump. It’s not clear if a pickup truck would be used during or after the gathering of the tens of millions in PAC money being thrown around in his vicinity, but, whenever Marco starts his cross-country drive, perhaps with canned provisions and a canine friend, we’ll be sure look out for him.

Ted Cruz arguably had the best night, taking Oklahoma, which was supposed to go to Trump, saving Texas, which he had to win, and grabbing Alaska, while he was at it. This is all the more impressive because I have yet to meet anyone who finds him appealing as a human being, and that includes Cruz voters. But he is undeniably a candidate of substance, one with clear and reasoned positions and a grasp of legal nuances. He offers the immigration-enforcement tenets of Trumpism, minus the social moderation on any other issues, and fortifies them with a willingness to eat babies if it would win an extra vote. On the question of whether Cruz would be preferable to Trump, Senator Lindsey Graham has offered a warm endorsement: “I can’t believe I would say yes, but yes.”

Let’s go back to the Democrats for a moment. Bernie Sanders has not lost just yet; still, Hillary must feel pretty good now. One curious thing I’ll confess is that many of the moments that supposedly show Clinton at her weakest—dancing awkwardly, confronting angry voters, confronting more angry voters—are, I find, ones that make her more appealing. She compensates for lack of smoothness or charm with sheer work and unfailing self-control. If others feel the same way, then Clinton will be helped by all the adversities she faces. Bernie Sanders has more charm—anyone does, really—but no one has more grit. And, assuming Ted Cruz fails to decapitate the front-runner, she’ll need it for what comes next.