Wisconsin victories buoy up Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders

Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton stepped up her attacks on rival Bernie Sanders aiming to blunt his momentum after his big win in Wisconsin, pointing out that she still had a strong lead among delegates.

Heading to a make-or-break New York primary for Mr Sanders on April 19th, she criticised the socialist on how he would meet his promise to break up big Wall Street banks and his opposition to lawsuits against gun-makers taken by parents of the Sandy Hook school shooting victims.

“Senator Sanders had a good night last night and I congratulated him, but if you look at the numbers I am still considerably ahead,” Mrs Clinton told CNN following her 13-point loss in Wisconsin.

The second-time presidential candidate pointed out that she had a bigger advantage among delegates than Barack Obama had over her at this stage in 2008. She sought to play down Mr Sanders's winning streak, saying she scored a "string" of similar victories against Mr Obama during the corresponding period in the campaign eight years ago.

‘Turning point’

Buoyed by his own 13-point victory over Republican front-runner

Donald Trump

in Wisconsin, Texas senator

Ted Cruz

said in New York that his latest victory was “a turning point in this entire election”.

Responding to Mr Trump’s accusation that “Lyin’ Ted Cruz” was a “Trojan horse” being used by the party bosses to “steal” the nomination from Mr Trump, Mr Cruz said, sarcastically, that the billionaire can “always be counted on to take the high road and demonstrate class”.

The first-term senator pointed to his victory among men and women and all age and incomes groups in Wisconsin as a sign that the people of the state had “resoundingly rejected” Mr Trump’s campaign.

“Donald has no solutions to the problems we are facing. He likes to yell and scream and insult and curse,” said Mr Cruz.

Wisconsin exit polls showed, in major reversals for Mr Trump, that Republicans concerned about the economy overwhelmingly backed Mr Cruz and were divided on who could best deal with concerns about trade.

Mr Trump had been leading in Wisconsin until a week ago but endured the worst week of the election. His campaign manager was charged with battery for allegedly manhandling a female reporter; Trump said women should be punished for undergoing illegal abortions and suggested that Japan and South Korea should develop their own nuclear weapons.

"He's done a lot of things right, but he is also like a rookie quarterback in the Super Bowl," Newt Gingrich, a 2012 Republican presidential candidate, told Fox News earlier this week.