Ohio key in Donald Trump’s march to Republican presidential nomination

Front-runner Donald Trump tried to prove no perceived misstep can derail his march to the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump enjoyed a relatively controversy-free multi-state tour ahead of primaries that could determine whether he wins the GOP nomination without a contested summer convention.

Perhaps most critical to that equation is today’s winner-take-all contest in Ohio, where the real estate mogul and the popular governor, John Kasich, have intensified their focus on one another — Trump calling his rival “a baby” and Kasich suggesting Trump and the violence at some of his rallies represent a “dark side” of American society.

Besides Ohio, candidates made their closing arguments in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina, and Florida, with the total number of delegates at stake accounting for more than a quarter of the 1,237 necessary for nomination.

Texas senator Ted Cruz argues that only he can keep Trump from reaching the required majority, while Florida senator Marco Rubio tries merely to remain relevant, hoping his home-state voters defy the polls and give him justification to extend his candidacy.

Trump tried to shift attention away from the intense criticism that followed harrowing scenes of a melee in Chicago, where he cancelled a scheduled rally amid a near-riot among his supporters, protesters and authorities.

“If we can win Ohio, we’re going to run the table, folks,” Trump boasted in West Chester, Ohio, one of three events he held with only occasional interruptions from protesters.

None of those interruptions led to violence, a stark turn from the scenes.“We’re not provoking. We want peace... We don’t want trouble,” Trump told a crowd in Bloomington, Illinois.

Kasich wasn’t buying it, reversing his months-long practice of avoiding the topic of Trump.

Speaking aboard his campaign bus between stops in Ohio, Kasich read a list of Trump quotes compiled by an aide. They included Trump’s comments that his audiences should “hit back” a little more and a statement that he’d like to “punch” a protester “in the face”.

Trump has often declared the country must “toughen up”, and suggested one man who was physically assaulted at a November rally deserved the treatment.