By Britt Nelson

Editor’s note: The views expressed by guest columnists are not necessarily those of The Costa Rica Star, its advertisers, or its staff.

Hillary Clinton is still in the driver’s seat, but when she looks in the rear-view mirror the sight of Bernie Sanders nipping at her heels keeps getting bigger.

Vermont Sen. Sanders whipped former Secretary of State Clinton again in Wisconsin’s Democratic presidential primary by 57 percent to 43 percent. Clinton, following the Wisconsin loss on Tuesday, campaigned in Bronx, New York and did not speak publicly. She had nothing to say, not a word.

Sanders, however, was quick to seize the moment. Speaking from Wyoming later Tuesday, he said, “With our victory tonight in Wisconsin, we have won seven out of the last eight caucuses and primaries, and we have won almost all of them with overwhelming, landslide numbers.”

Wyoming is the site of a Democratic caucus vote on Saturday with 14 delegates at stake. Then it’s on to New York with 247 delegates to be assigned on April 19, Clinton’s home state.

Wisconsin’s delegates were split proportionately with Sanders receiving 47 delegates to Clinton’s 36.

Clinton’s total delegate count is at 1,279 delegates to Sanders’ 1,027 delegates, according to delegate counts from Real Clear Politics.

Some 2,383 delegates are needed to win the Democratic nomination for president.

After weeks of negotiations between the two campaigns, Clinton and Sanders will debate again April 16 three days before the New York primary.

Real Clear Politics averaging of polls shows a tightening race in the New York primary between Clinton and Sanders. Now Clinton polls 53.5 percent to Sanders’ 42.5 percent. But — less than a month ago — the same polls showed Clinton at 71 percent to Sanders’ 23 percent.

The Wisconsin primary, meanwhile, was a wake-up call for New York billionaire Donald Trump who was beat by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz 48 percent to Trump’s 35 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich took only 14 percent of the vote winning no delegates. Cruz received 36 Republican delegates to Trump’s 6 delegates.

Trump’s total delegate count is at 743 to Cruz’s 517. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed to win the Republican nomination for president.

For Republicans the next stop is less than two weeks away in the April 19 New York primary, where Trump maintains a large lead in the polls over Cruz and Kasich. Trump is polling at 53 percent to Kasich’s 21 percent with Cruz close behind at 19 percent.

What the candidates do and say between now and April 19 will influence the outcome of the New York primary for both Republicans and Democrats. No more Republican debates are scheduled, while Clinton and Sanders will debate April 16 in New York, three days before the primary vote.

In this Democratic debate, Sanders needs to hammer Clinton on her issues of long-term honesty and the dark cloud of controversial baggage she would bring to the White House if she were to win the presidency. Clinton remains under investigation by the FBI involving her use of personal email and her handling of sensitive information during her time as secretary of state and those results have yet to be made public.

Trump needs to get out of the gutter and present himself as more presidential than he has yet so far and quit talking about Cruz’s wife and the abortion controversy. It’s time for Trump and Cruz to talk specifics about specific issues and realistically solving problems facing the USA.

Cruz’s challenge to Trump may well continue leading to no candidate arriving at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio in July — with the necessary 1,237 delegates – which would lead to a convention floor fight that could get rather nasty as anti-Trump forces attempt to nominate someone else and negate the will of the voting public.

About the author

Britt Nelson relocated to Costa Rica in 2011 from Florida, where he served as news editor for the Palatka Daily News, a newspaper owned by the New York Times Regional Newspaper Group (NYT-RNG) for 20 years.

Nelson served the NYT-RNG for 18 years in Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Florida as a correspondent, reporter, staff writer, senior staff writer training new reporters, copy editor, page designer, editorial writer, editorial page editor and editorial board member.