Cruz Sweeps Wyoming

Painstaking organization and in-person campaigning paid off again for Ted Cruz on Saturday as he nailed down all 14 delegates up for grabs at the Republican convention in Wyoming. The result leaves Donald Trump facing yet another loss in a string of defeats in Western states, reports the AP. Saturday's sweep for Cruz follows his victory last month in Wyoming, when he scored nine of 12 delegates at county conventions. Trump and Marco Rubio each won one delegate last month in Wyoming while one remained undecided. Trump still leads the overall delegate race with 744. Cruz has 559, and Kasich 144. Needed to win: 1,237. Cruz was the only candidate to show up on Saturday, reports CNN, promising to end what he called President Obama's "war on coal" if he's elected. Wyoming is the nation's leading coal-producing state.

Trump largely bypassed the state, telling Fox News on Saturday that, "I don't want to waste millions of dollars going out to Wyoming many months before to wine and dine and to essentially pay off these people, because a lot of it's a payoff, you understand that?" Trump's defeat in Wyoming follows his shutout earlier this month in Colorado, where he failed to pick up a single delegate of the 34 in play. Cruz said Trump's decision not to campaign in Wyoming is telling. "The reason he decided not to show up is he recognized he couldn't win, he couldn't earn the support of conservatives in Wyoming," Cruz said. Calling America, "the Saudi Arabia of coal," Cruz promised to roll back federal regulations he says hamper coal production. (More Ted Cruz stories.)