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Trump to hold Town Hall in Tampa today

Posted at 4:31 AM, Mar 14, 2016
and last updated 2016-03-14 11:38:41-04
 
 
GOP front-runner Donald Trump tried to prove over the weekend that no perceived misstep can derail his march to the Republican presidential nomination.
 
He will hold a Town Hall today at the Tampa Convention Center.  It begins at 2 p.m.
 
TRAFFIC ALERT:
Franklin Street from Channelside Drive south to Old Water Street will be closed starting at 8 a.m.
 
Trump enjoyed a relatively controversy free multi-state tour Sunday ahead of primaries that could determine whether he wins the GOP nomination without a contested summer convention.
 
Perhaps most critical to that equation is Tuesday's winner-take-all contest in Ohio, where the real estate mogul and the popular governor, John Kasich, have intensified their focus on one another — Trump calling his rival "a baby" and Kasich suggesting Trump and the violence at some of his rallies represent a "dark side" of American society.
 
Besides Ohio, candidates are readying their closing arguments in Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Florida, with the total number of delegates at stake Tuesday accounting for more than a quarter of the 1,237 necessary for nomination.
 
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz argues that only he can keep Trump from reaching the required majority, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio tries merely to remain relevant, hoping his home-state voters defy the polls and give him justification to extend his candidacy.
 
Trump tried Sunday to shift attention away from the intense criticism that followed harrowing scenes Friday of a melee in Chicago, where he canceled a scheduled rally amid a near-riot among his supporters, protesters and authorities.
 
"If we can win Ohio, we're going to run the table, folks," Trump boasted in West Chester, Ohio, on Sunday, one of three events he held with only occasional interruptions from protesters.
 
None of those interruptions led to violence, a stark turn from the scenes in Chicago and a Saturday rally in which a dissenter stormed the stage as Trump spoke, only to be subdued by Secret Service agents.
 
"We're not provoking. We want peace. ... We don't want trouble," Trump told a crowd in Bloomington, Illinois.
 
Kasich wasn't buying it, reversing his months-long practice of avoiding the topic of Trump.