Bernie Sanders takes West Virginia, Donald Trump rolls on

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during an interview in his office at Trump Tower in New York. (Photo: AP)

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump cruised to victory in two more states on Tuesday, while Bernie Sanders beat rival Democrat Hillary Clinton in West Virginia, bolstering his case for remaining in the race. Massive wins in West Virginia and Nebraska put Trump ever closer to clinching the 1,237 delegates he needs to be declared the party’s nominee at its convention in July. “Thank you West Virginia!” and “Thank you Nebraska!” he said in a pair of tweets.

Now the sole Republican candidate in the contest after his remaining rivals dropped out last week, Mr Trump is transitioning from the fierce primary battles with the likes of Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio to a general election showdown with Mr Clinton, even amid deep Republican discord about the celebrity billionaire.

He has narrowed his picks for running mate, telling Fox News he is considering five vice-president options. “I think they are excellent,” he added. “I’ll announce whoever it will be at the convention” in Cleveland, Ohio, Mr Trump said.

With Republican concern about their nominee sizzling, a Quinnipiac University poll out Tuesday showed Mr Trump closing in on Mr Clinton’s lead in two major battleground states — Florida and Pennsylvania — and overtaking her in swing state Ohio. No candidate has won the presidential election without taking at least two of those three states.

Despite Ms Clinton’s overwhelming delegate lead, Mr Sanders ensured the race would go on with his win in West Virginia, where he won more than 51 per cent to Ms Clinton’s 36 per cent with more than 95 per cent of the vote counted. With eight contests remaining, “we think we have a good chance to win many of those states,” Mr Sanders told supporters on Tuesday in San Francisco.

“We now have won primaries and caucuses in 19 states,” Mr Sanders said at another rally in Oregon. “Let me be as clear as I can be: We are in this campaign to win the Democratic nomination.”

Quinnipiac’s poll also found that Mr Sanders, a democratic socialist who commands an enthusiastic following on the left, would do better against Mr Trump than Ms Clinton in all three states if he were the Democratic nominee.

The 74-year-old Vermont Senator, who defeated Ms Clinton in Indiana, has mounted an unyielding come-from-behind challenge that has exposed weaknesses in the latter’s campaign.

Although almost certain to win the Democratic nomination, Ms Clinton’s ability to excite young and white working-class Demo-crats going into the general election has been put in doubt by Mr Sanders’s primary successes.

While Ms Clinton still has Mr Sanders to worry about, Mr Trump faces a rebellion within the Republican leadership over the insulting tone and shifting substance of his candidacy. House Speaker Paul Ryan and other GOP congressional leaders were due to huddle with Mr Tr-ump on Thursday in Wash-ington in highly anticipated meetings.