Donald J. Trump drew closer to grasping the Republican presidential nomination with his victories in three states Tuesday night, and the chances of party leaders’ wresting it from his hands at a contested convention were a bit more remote on Wednesday.

By winning Michigan, Mississippi and Hawaii, Mr. Trump captured the greatest share of the 150 delegates at stake Tuesday, and his mathematical path to a majority of 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination is increasingly brighter than his rivals. He needs about 54 percent of outstanding delegates; his closest rival, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, needs 62 percent.

But Mr. Trump gained something even more valuable than delegates on Tuesday: momentum as the race heads into a watershed moment, March 15, when the first states that award delegates winner-take-all hold their primaries. They include Senator Marco Rubio’s home state, Florida, and Gov. John Kasich’s, Ohio. Both men have their backs to the wall, fighting for their political lives.

“The only person that has a shot of getting 1,237 is us, given how well we did last night,” said Barry Bennett, a senior adviser to Mr. Trump, who is closely tracking the delegate race for him. He said “the clock is ticking” on other candidates but “not necessarily on us.”

“After Florida and Ohio,” Mr. Bennett said, “if we win both those states, Cruz will be 300 delegates behind. The winner-take-all states are the rocket fuel.”

Mr. Cruz did better than polls predicted in Michigan and Mississippi, and he won a commanding victory in Idaho. In all, he netted an estimated 57 delegates to Mr. Trump’s 71.

But Mr. Cruz, who trails Mr. Trump in delegates awarded so far by an estimated 462 to 358, is facing a primary map of big states in the North and West that are demographically more favorable to Mr. Trump. He seemed to acknowledge the difficulty of overtaking Mr. Trump before the convention even if the race becomes the two-man contest he has long sought.

“Look, Reagan and Ford battled it out in a contested convention,” Mr. Cruz told Fox News in an interview released Wednesday morning. “That’s what conventions are for.”

Tuesday’s results were a reversal for Mr. Cruz, who performed well in four states that voted on Saturday, winning two, Kansas and Maine, and emerging ahead of Mr. Trump in the day’s delegate haul.

Mr. Kasich’s third-place finish in Michigan, a blow after he predicted as late as Tuesday night that he would come in second, is a sign of potential trouble for him in Ohio because of the demographic similarity of the two states.

Mr. Kasich’s chief strategist, John Weaver, sought to make the case that the governor was in a good position as the nominating race moves away from the South.

“After March 15, more than 1,000 delegates will still be available, and the electoral map shifts significantly in our favor, with the delegate-rich states fitting Governor Kasich’s profile,” Mr. Weaver wrote in a strategy memo late Tuesday.

But even if Mr. Kasich wins Ohio and its 66 delegates, along with some of the others at stake on the same day in Illinois, Missouri and North Carolina, his chances of gaining a majority of 1,237 is close to a mathematical impossibility. Only 1,000 delegates will remain after March 15.

“His path to the nomination during regulation time, primary season, is narrow enough to be invisible,” said Joshua T. Putnam, a political science lecturer at the University of Georgia with an expertise in delegate selection. “His only path is to survive with some delegates into the convention.”

Similarly, Mr. Rubio is facing a daunting mathematical roadblock. In failing to reach 15 percent of the votes in Michigan and Mississippi, and 20 percent in Idaho, he was shut out of delegates entirely in the three states holding primaries on Tuesday. He may have picked up only as few as two in Hawaii.

Mr. Trump’s rivals seized on a new poll from The Wall Street Journal and NBC News on Tuesday showing a tight race among all four candidates in states that had not yet held primaries or caucuses. Mr. Trump was the favorite of 30 percent of likely Republican primary voters in those states. Mr. Cruz was favored by 27 percent, Mr. Kasich 22 percent and Mr. Rubio 20 percent.

The poll also suggested that if the race were to narrow to a one-on-one contest, Mr. Trump could be in trouble. In two-person matchups, all of Mr. Trump’s three rivals were preferred by voters.

“Next week will give us our first real clear indication,” Mr. Putnam said. On Tuesday, Mr. Kasich said that if Mr. Trump had a plurality of delegates coming into the convention, the Republican Party should not assume he deserved the nomination.

But Republicans would be playing with fire if Mr. Trump is leading the delegate race and is denied the nomination at a contested convention.

“It would tear the party in two,” Mr. Bennett said. “Whoever gave his sham acceptance speech would be doing it to a lot of empty chairs.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/10/us/po … .html?_r=0

Not going to be watching this. It's so lazy that even if it was good they don't deserve the money. Ghostbusters, with females! seems to be the extent of creativity.

Nah, I just don't post crazy conspiracy theories as much as I used to.

The good news is Axl Rose likes to spend money. This is the guy who supposedly blew 100k a night on theme parties on the UYI tour.

Will 10 million last him more than a few years? Not sure about that...

After OMG bombed in 99 many assumed Axl became insecure and started tinkering with the material forever. But then we got the Ezrin quote saying Axl was ready to release an "industrial album" in 01 or there about. However it was deemed not good enough for both Ezrin and the label.

That suggests Axl isn't "afraid" to release an album, but he needs support. With Slash and Duff back in the fold that support might return.