When Alaska finally reported, it became a third win for Cruz, with Trump in second place. There is no way to spin the night's GOP results as other than very favorable to Trump.
Cruz makes a good argument for being the only viable alternative to Trump, having won four states so far. From the viewpoint of the GOP establishment, Cruz is arguably worse than Trump - less of a buffoon, more of a hard-eyed chess player. Not liking either man, they face a frying pan vs. fire dilemma.
The Washington Post's excellent Dan Balz summarizes the night and where things stand now. In the next two weeks we should get a clearer picture of the nominating process going forward - whether or not we might actually have a convention floor fight as in the storied past.
Every four years someone raises the possibility that this election season will be a black swan, a watershed event. Whoever said this about 2016 (sadly, not me) can claim bragging rights. Trump appears to be enlarging the Republican electorate in ways not seen since Reagan.
Meanwhile, low turnouts in Democrat primaries and caucuses have shown that party an ugly reality. Old straight white candidates may no longer be viable at the national level for their party, which depends heavily on charisma to turn out its hit-or-miss voters.
