Rex Early To Chair Trump's Indiana Campaign

The Republican presidential campaign of Donald Trump added a heavy hitter to head up the campaign in Indiana. Former Indiana Republican State Chairman Rex Early has agreed to serve as chairman of Trump's Indiana campaign who has attended many national conventions as a delegate. Early tells the Indianapolis Star he believes Trump will easily carry Indiana.

The Trump campaign has also named Suzanne Jawarowski as its statewide director. She formerly co-chaired Carly Fiorina's Indiana campaign. The Star reports that political strategist Ann Hathaway has been hired to run the Indiana campaign of Gov. John Kasich. Ted Cruz has yet to announced his Indiana team. Indiana has 57 delegates at stake, which are allocated based on the winning candidate in each of the state's nine congressional districts and the statewide winner.

Today's news in Indiana comes as Trump suffers a crushing defeat in Wisconsin where Sen. Ted Cruz has captured about 48% of the vote compared to the 35% share of the vote won by Trump. Gov. John Kasich is finishing a distance third with just 14% of the vote. Trump carried a majority of Wisconsin counties, but Cruz sealed a victory in Wisconsin by winning in the more populous urban and suburban areas. Trump's loss in Wisconsin makes it highly likely that no candidate will arrive in Cleveland with the magical number of delegates needed to win the nomination outright. Most political analysts think it is unlikely either Trump or Cruz would come out on top at a brokered convention.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Bernie Sanders has handed the anointed candidate, Hillary Clinton, yet another defeat. Sanders convincingly defeated Clinton by a 55-45% margin in Wisconsin. The proportional allocation of the state's delegates, however, will give Clinton a respectable share of the overall delegates. Sanders won the vote in all but a handful of counties in Wisconsin. Clinton was able to make the race close by narrowly beating Sanders in the state's largest county, Milwaukee. Notwithstanding another win for Sanders, it remains unlikely he can defeat Clinton for the nomination because of the disproportionate share of support Clinton is expected to receive from the party's super delegates at the convention.