Why the US presidential race has roared back into life after Wisconsin

Just when Donald Trump appeared unstoppable, Ted Cruz has wounded him Credit: Reuters

Fasten your seat belts. The nomination battles for both the Republicans and the Democrats have come roaring back to life.

Just when Donald Trump appeared unstoppable, Ted Cruz has wounded him.

Just when Hillary Clinton could see the pathway to victory, along comes Bernie Sanders to crash the party.

Overnight, two things have become clearer:

  • It seems increasingly likely the Republican convention in Cleveland will see a floor fight of epic proportions and of historic intensity. It is probable that no candidate will control a majority of the delegates. So it will have to go to multiple ballots. Chaos will ensue.

  • Hillary Clinton has another prolonged slugfest ahead of her to win the Democratic nomination. She will likely still emerge the victor, but her weakness as a candidate is being brutally exposed.

So we may look back at the Wisconsin vote and say it was just an intriguing twist to the election season that ultimately changed nothing.

Or we may judge that it was truly a turning point, revealing that Trump has peaked and that the #NeverTrump movement finally hit its stride.

The heartland state of Wisconsin - famous for cheese and its Green Bay Packers football team - has spoken. Now we just need to figure out what it means for the contest to win the White House in a mere 217 days.