Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton speaks at a rally at Washington High School in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the United States, Jan. 30, 2016. HillaryClinton won Bernie Sanders with a razor-thin lead in the Iowa caucuses, according to results announced by Iowa Democratic Party Tuesday. (Xinhua/Yin Bogu)
After a fierce battle to stay on top in recent weeks, both U.S. Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and his Democratic counterpart Hillary Clinton are back on track to grab their parties' nomination after big wins in New York primary Tuesday.
The New York primary was a much-needed big victory for Trump, after several weeks in which rival Senator Ted Cruz cast some doubt on whether the brash billionaire could get enough delegates to clinch the nomination.
Likewise, Clinton's victory over rival Bernie Sanders put her back in a decisive position to grab the Democratic nomination, after the Vermont senator schooled her in Washington, Hawaii and Alaska last month, beating her soundly in those states.
While there was never any real doubt that Clinton would ultimately win the nomination, there were questions over how long Sanders would put up such a fierce fight.
"The decisive New York victory puts Trump back on path towards the nomination," Brookings Institution's senior fellow Darrell West told Xinhua.
"He (Trump) had lost a number of states to Cruz and a series of missteps had raised doubts about his staying power with voters. But his large margin across virtually every county in New York shows that he still has strong vote-getting power and Republican elites have not succeeded in derailing his candidacy," he said.
Still, the controversial candidate needs to follow up the win with strong victories next week in the states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Connecticut. If he does well in those places, it will give him momentum going into the final stages of the primaries, West said.
West added that Cruz remains in the race despite a poor showing in New York because Republican elites are desperate to find somebody who can stop Trump.
"Cruz' victories over the past month led party leaders to believe he could derail Trump, but it is not clear whether Cruz can do that," West said.
"His best bet is to keep Trump from a majority on the first ballot and hope that Trump delegates desert their candidate on following ballots," he added.
Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, told Xinhua that Trump's New York win is important on a number of fronts.
First, it brings him a large number of delegates, which is important given the organizational losses he has suffered against Cruz in recent weeks, Zelizer said.
Second, it impacts the media narrative by causing it to focus on his ability to win big in northeastern states rather than his struggles with Cruz.
Finally, Trump's struggles encouraged him to calm his rhetoric, and since it worked, this might be his path in the coming weeks, Zelizer said.
Dan Mahaffee, an analyst with the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, told Xinhua that Trump's win gives him some valuable momentum.
