Super Duper Tuesday

It’s Super Tuesday!

Democrats and Republicans head to the polls today in primaries and caucuses from Texas to Massachusetts. 12 states are holding elections today.

Texas is seen as must-win for Ted Cruz. Marco Rubio’s best chance may be Minnesota. It looks good for Donald Trump in most other states.

On the Democratic side, Hillary is likely to dominate in the South. Bernie Sanders has a shot in Oklahoma and the caucus in Colorado. He’s likely to win Vermont.  Massachusetts is considered a must-win for Sanders.

We’ve got reporters all over, and will be checking in on various states today.

Rich Edson is in VA, Jonathan Serrie is in Atlanta, Casey Stegall in Dallas, Molly Line in Newton, MA, Peter Doocy in St Paul, Shannon Bream in Manassas, VA, Doug McKelway is in Atlanta, Mike Emanuel in Burlington, VT, John Roberts is in Miami, Carl Cameron is in West Palm Beach, FL, Ed Henry in Miami and James Rosen is in Katy, Texas.

0700EST -- Sen Sanders votes in the VT Primary. Burlington, VT. POOL COVER

1230EST -- Sen Rubio holds a rally. Courtyards of Andover Events Center, Andover, MN. LIVE via LiveU

1200EST -- Donald Trump holds a rally. Signature Flight Hangar, Port-Columbus Intl Airport, Columbus, OH. LIVE

1230EST -- Hillary Clinton makes a campaign stop. Minneapolis, MN. LIVE via LiveU

1300EST -- Hillary Clinton makes a campaign stop. Minneapolis, MN. LIVE via LiveU

1115EST -- Sen Ted Cruz votes in the TX Primary. West Gray Community Center, Houston, TX. LIVE via LiveU

1200EST -- OH Gov Kasich holds a rally. George Mason Univ Law School, Arlington, VA. FNC TAPE

Clinton and Trump are looking like the big winners according to most recent polls.

The way the GOP structured the primaries this season are working towards a quick nomination for Donald Trump. The new system was designed to make up for perceived flaws during the Romney nomination in 2012, but it’s front-weighting the nomination battle and that is helping Donald Trump. Nearly half the delegates for the nomination are at stake today.

Some in the GOP are saying they will not support Trump if he gets the nomination.

Reid Epstein in the Wall Street Journal today writes:

“A divisive battle is brewing in the Republican Party over the potential nomination of Donald Trump, as some party leaders warn they won't back him and could support third-party or write-in candidates.

Most party leaders still say they will back the party's nominee, and until recent days even Mr. Trump's loudest critics maintained they would back him in the general election if he wins the nomination.

That is beginning to change -- even as Mr. Trump is poised to win a string of Super Tuesday contests, and likely take the lion's share of the 595 delegates up for grabs today.”

Meantime, Hillary Clinton is already looking past Bernie Sanders to a likely battle with Donald Trump in the general election.

The Washington Post reporters Anne Gearan and Abby Phillip write today:

“Hillary Clinton and her allies are shifting their attention to a likely general-election contest against Donald Trump that they expect to be strongly negative - and for which they are planning an intensive effort to draw out minority voters who feel demonized by the billionaire real estate mogul. Clinton is still waging a hard-fought nomination battle against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont - including 11 contests on Tuesday - and some Democrats supporting her are wary of looking too far over the horizon. But increasingly sure that Trump will win the Republican nomination, Clinton appears this week to be running a two-pronged campaign against both Sanders and an eventual Republican opponent who sounds a lot like Trump.”

The WSJ reports that as many as 40% of the votes in some Super Tuesday states were already cast.. before polls even open.

The final batch of Hillary Clinton emails were released by the State Department.

President Obama meets with Senator Mitch McConnell today along with the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Chuck Grassley to discuss the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Both men have suggested they wouldn’t even consider any Obama nomination to fill the hole left by the death of Antonin Scalia.

1130EST -- POTUS holds meeting with Senate ldrs and members of Senate Judiciary Cmte to talk about the Supreme Court. POOL TAPE SPRAY

A House committee will hold a hearing with the FBI and Apple. Yesterday a federal judge denied a government request to open an iPhone in a drug case.

The Obama Administration will release the second set of documents related to the 2011 raid that killed Usama bin Laden.

For more news, follow me on Twitter: @ClintPHenderson