LAST NIGHT – QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 9:25 A.M. ET:  From Eliana Johnson and Alexis Levinson at NRO: 

It was a terrible night for the forces that have come collectively to be known as #NeverTrump, the diverse array of people, campaigns, and historically important institutions united only by a desire to deny Donald Trump the Republican presidential nomination. Going into Tuesday’s primaries, the last elections before the race enters its final and determinative phase when Ohio and Florida award 165 delegates on a winner-take-all basis next week, Trump’s enemies had hoped to stall his momentum. In particular, they hoped that Ted Cruz, whose campaign is based in large part on his appeal to Evangelical voters, could throw up a roadblock in Mississippi, and that John Kasich could arrest Trump’s momentum in Michigan.

Both Cruz and Kasich failed. And as they did, the slow death of the Republican party ground onward. Hope of preserving the conservative movement that has sustained it for nearly four decades diminished further.

COMMENT:  Perfectly stated.  Read the whole thing. 

There really isn't much more to "analyze" right now.  We will wait six days until next Tuesday, when Ohio and Florida will decide the fate of Kasich and Rubio.  That fate looks pretty grim right now.  Then we may see a Trump-Cruz contest, but the task for Cruz would be monumental.  The best he could probably hope for would be a contested convention.

A Republican debate is scheduled for March 21st in Salt Lake City, Utah.  However, the Republican governor of the state, Gary Herbert, now says that the debate might be canceled because Donald Trump may not show up.  Trump has said, "If I've got it wrapped up, I may not come to Salt Lake."  That's 12 days from now.  As they say, we await developments.

March 9,  2016