Does Wisconsin primary offer hope to Cruz and Sanders?

Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders have won in Wisconsin and both wins could change their respective races. However, both candidates face daunting mathematical challenges and the possibility of contested conventions looms in both parties.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Wins by Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin, a moderately delegate-rich state, does little to settle the primary races of both parties.

Ted Cruz beat Trump to take the entire haul of the state's 42 pledged delegates. Cruz's success came from the urban areas of the state while Trump did best in more rural areas. While Cruz cut into Trump's overall delegate lead, Trump remains in position to either win outright, or he can have the most delegates at the start of the upcoming Republican convention.

What remains undetermined is if Cruz's win will shift the momentum away from Trump. If Trump enters the Republican convention with faltering momentum, his candidacy could end quickly once the convention starts.

On the Democratic side, Bernie Sanders won 46 of the state's delegates with a 56.6 percent result compared to Clinton's 43.1 percent haul. Clinton earned 36 of the states delegates, which are awarded proportionally. Sander's win cuts into Clinton's delegate lead by a net of 10.

Clinton now has a total of 1,295 pledged delegates to Sanders' 1097. This means Sanders is closing within 200 delegates of Clinton with just about half of the total delegates in the nation now pledged.

However, Clinton has the support of 483 superdelegates, who are appointed by the party to support a candidate and are not bound to voter preferences. Most of Clinton's superdelegates pledged support for her before Sanders became a credible challenger. Sanders has just 31 superdelegates. Superdelegates can change their vote at anytime, and the Sanders campaign has admitted they will need to convince many of these superdelegates to change their mind before the convention if they want to win. However, the odds of this are quite long.

Sander's best hope now hinges on an upset in New York where Clinton leads by at least 10 points with two weeks to go. If Sanders does beat Clinton there, it could change a lot of minds and catapult him to front-runner status.

Trump is expected to do well in New York and although polling in California is sparse, Trump has shown a consistent lead in the state. If Trump wins both New York and California, then he may win the Republican nomination outright.

Voters as well as party officials in both camps are weary of the extended nomination process. Often, a clear leader has emerged by this point and the two challengers begin to pivot to take on the other side by this time in a campaign. However, that shift has been delayed in both parties because both frontrunners could still be upset. The race, particularly for the Republicans, is far from over.

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More may be decided by New York, which votes on April 19.

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