Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are set for decisive wins in the crucial presidential primary in the US state of Florida.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio dropped out of the Republican race after Mr Trump took 45% of the votes with nearly 75% of the results reported in the state.

Meanwhile Clinton has 65% with her challenger Bernie Sanders on 33%.

She is also projected to win in North Carolina and Ohio. Republican hopeful John Kasich is expected to win Ohio.

Polls have also closed in Illinois and Missouri.

Rubio took to the stage in Miami to congratulate Mr Trump on his win on Rubio's home turf.

Announcing he was suspending his campaign, he said the US was in the middle of a "political storm", and voters were angry and frustrated.

Florida and Ohio are particularly important in the race for the Republican nomination because the winning candidate gets all of the delegates on offer - 99 in Florida and 66 in Ohio.

Those delegates go to the national convention in July where the presidential nominee will be chosen.

For the Democratic nomination, Florida offers the greatest number of delegates - to be distributed proportionally - with 246. Meanwhile Illinois offers 156 delegates and Ohio 143.

Opinion polls had given Mrs Clinton a comfortable lead over her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, especially in Florida and North Carolina. But Mr Sanders appeared to be gaining ground in the three other states.

Sanders pulled off a major political upset with his win in Michigan a week ago.

(BBC)

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have both won the most states in the biggest day of the race for the US presidential nomination.

Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia were among the states where both triumphed. Trump was defeated by Ted Cruz in Texas and Oklahoma.

Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders won Oklahoma and his home state of Vermont.

Super Tuesday sees 11 states voting on the biggest single day ahead of the 8 November presidential election.

Clinton has also taken Arkansas and Texas, and Mr Trump has won Massachusetts.

The former secretary of state and real estate mogul entered Super Tuesday as the favourites to win the vast majority of states for their respective parties.

Early exit polls show Trump and Ohio Governor John Kasich leading the Republican field in Vermont. The race in Virginia was also tight, with Marco Rubio - who has yet to win a primary - coming a close second behind Mr Trump.

Clinton and Sanders are neck and neck for the Democrats in the north-eastern state of Massachusetts.

Results from the remaining states are expected in the coming hours.

Trump has stunned the Republican establishment to become the party's front-runner. Despite his controversial policies on immigration, the former reality TV star has been consistently polling well above his rivals - Ted Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Both Senators Cruz and Rubio have ramped up their anti-Trump rhetoric over the past week, in a bid to halt his commanding lead in the race. The outcome of Super Tuesday will be critical for both candidates to remain the race.

On the Democratic side, Clinton had already secured three wins in the first four early-voting states and has led significantly among blocs of black voters there.

Bernie Sanders has put up an unexpectedly strong challenge against the former secretary of state after his sweeping victory in New Hampshire last month.

The Vermont senator and self-described democratic socialist is hoping to win in several other states on Tuesday such as Massachusetts, Oklahoma and Minnesota.

Addressing cheering supporters at his victory speech in Vermont on Tuesday, Sanders aimed a jibe at the Republican front-runner saying: "We are not going to let the Donald Trumps of the world divide us."

Clinton also addressed Donald Trump's rhetoric in her speech, saying: "The stakes in this election have never been higher and the rhetoric we're hearing on the other side has never been lower."

Voters have been casting their ballots across the country, from Massachusetts and Virginia on the east coast to Texas and all the way to Alaska.

Super Tuesday is pivotal in the presidential nomination race, with nearly a quarter of the 2,472 Republican delegates are up for grabs and some 20% of all delegates for the Democrats.

(BBC)

Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Bernie Sanders cruised to early victories in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is projected to finish second in the GOP race.

Multiple Republicans, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, are now battling for a third-place finish.

Trump, a brash billionaire reality TV star who has never run for office, and Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, were seen as long-shot outsiders when they launched their campaigns. Their victories reflect deep bipartisan discontent at professional politicians and suggest that both the Democratic and Republican races will now be long struggles that could stretch well into the spring.

Trump appeared on stage with a beaming smile on his face and gave a thumbs up to his crowd of supporters.

"Wow, wow, wow," Trump said. "We are going to make America great again."

A hoarse but jubilant Sanders also thanked his supporters with a passionate speech.

"Tonight we have sent a message that will echo from Wall Street to Washington from Maine to California," he said.

His Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, delivered a concession speech that appeared to be an effort to co-opt Sanders' message about an economy stacked against the middle class while she vowed to fight her rival across the political map.

"Now we take this campaign to the entire country. We are going to fight for every vote in every state," she said, foreshadowing a long fight for the nomination.

"People have every right to be angry. But they are also hungry. They are hungry for solutions," she said, adding that she wanted to rein in Wall Street. "But I know how to do it," Clinton said, implying that Sanders' calls for a revolution were unrealistic.

A source within the Sanders campaign told CNN's Mark Preston that his victory meant that the Vermont senator's operation would transition into a national effort targeting multiple states beyond the next two contests in South Carolina and Nevada. Sanders intends to draw sharp differences with Clinton on the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal and other trade issues which could play into the campaign.

Battle for second

Kasich, Rubio and Bush battled for a runner-up finish to assume the leadership of the GOP establishment.

Kasich's victory did not appear sufficiently clear cut to position himself as the sole establishment going into the big races across the South in the coming weeks. He could, however, win delegates in the Midwest if he can stay in the race well into March.

The continuing crowding of the establishment lane could play into the hands of Trump, the top anti-establishment candidate and Cruz, who proved his social conservative bona fides by winning the Iowa caucuses.

With 35% of the GOP vote counted at about 9:40 p.m. ET, Trump was in the lead at 34% followed by Kasich at 16%. Cruz had 12% while Bush was at 11%, Rubio was at 10% and Chris Christie was at 8%.

On the Democratic side, with 34% of the vote in, Sanders was at 59% to Clinton's 38%.

(CNN)

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has demanded a raw vote count from the Iowa caucus, after results showed Hillary Clinton beating him by just .4 percentage points.

Sanders spoke of an unfolding controversy at certain Iowa precincts which did not have enough Democratic party volunteers to report delegate totals. He called on officials to reveal underlying voter totals.

Candidates are awarded on a precinct-by-precinct basis, regardless of the state-wide vote for each person.

“I honestly don’t know what happened. I know there are some precincts that have still not reported. I can only hope and expect that the count will be honest,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

Sanders' campaign director, Jeff Weaver, said he did not "anticipate we are going to contest" specific results, but hoped there would be an investigation into the situation.

(RT)

The former Hewlett-Packard chief executive brazenly confronted Donald Trump on the debate stage Wednesday night, putting the front-runner in the rare position of being on defense.

She was stern when asked about Trump's recent assessment of her appearance, when he told Rolling Stone: "Look at that face! Would anyone vote for that?"

Fiorina shot back during the debate: "I think women all over this country heard very clearly what Mr. Trump said."

The exchange left Trump in an unusual position: struggling to find the right words to respond.

"I think she's got a beautiful face and I think she's a beautiful woman," he said, declining to take the opportunity to hit back.

Trump also faced withering attacks from former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Rand Paul. The jabs marked a shift in tone for Republican candidates since the last debate in August, when many of Trump's competitors were hesitant to directly take him on. By Wednesday, those reservations were gone, a sign of how seriously his rivals are taking Trump's candidacy.

The debate also served as a forum for several candidates to speak passionately about Planned Parenthood and vow to defund the group in the wake of controversial and highly edited videos of organization officials discussing the sale of aborted fetal parts.

"These Planned Parenthood videos are horrifying," said Sen. Ted Cruz, as he accused the organization of trying to "sell the body parts of unborn children for profit."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie responded: "Let's ask Hillary Clinton. She believes in the systematic murder of children in the womb."

Fiorina used even more graphic language.

"Watch these tapes. Watch a fully formed fetus on the table. Its heart beating, its legs kicking while someone says we have to keep it alive to harvest its brain," she said.

Though Trump didn't pack as much punch as usual, he still found moments to go on the offense. He pounced on Fiorina's controversial tenure as head of Hewlett-Packard.

Her leadership at the firm "led to the destruction of the company," Trump said. "She can't run any of my companies -- that I can tell you."

Bush was uncharacteristically combative with Trump, seeming determined to prove that he could hold his own against the real estate mogul.

Asked to respond to Trump's controversial remarks about Bush's wife — "If my wife were from Mexico, I think I would have a soft spot for people from Mexico" — Bush gestured to his wife in the audience and asked for an apology.

Trump declined, adding: "No, I won't do that because I said nothing wrong but I hear she's a lovely woman."

Earlier in the evening, Bush had accused Trump of buying influence.

"You got Hillary Clinton to go to your wedding," Bush said.

"Excuse me, Jeb, I got along with Clinton, I got along with everybody," Trump said. "Excuse me."

Jeb cut in with a curt: "No."

"More energy tonight -- I like that," joked Trump, who has been criticizing Bush relentlessly for lacking in charisma.

As he fended off one attack after another, Trump — well-known for his insatiable appetite for mocking his critics — seemed to lack the fire that fueled his performance at last month's debate.

The debate came at a crucial point in the GOP primary, with tensions running high and establishment candidates struggling against their outsider counterparts.

"There's a sophomoric quality that is entertaining about Mr. Trump," said Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, scolding Trump for going after people's appearance.

Trump responded: "I never attacked him on his looks and believe me there's plenty of subject matter right there."

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker also took an early shot at Trump. "We don't need an apprentice in the White House -- we have one right now."

Meanwhile, at an earlier debate for the GOP field's lower-ranking candidates, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former New York Gov. George Pataki, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum debated thorny political issues such as immigration.Trump has made the issue a central part of his campaign rhetoric -- and national security.

When the conversation turned to the controversial issue of "birthright citizenship," Graham said there were certain "rich Asians, rich people from the Mideast" that were "bastardizing citizenship."

Jindal, meanwhile, defended his policy views on immigration, repeatedly asserting that he did not support amnesty.

In another heated exchange, Pataki and Santorum butted heads about a Kentucky county clerk's refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The woman, Kim Davis, has reignited a national debate about a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year that legalized same-sex marriage across the country.

Santorum called the Supreme Court ruling "unconstitutional," and said there is no more important right than the ability for a citizen to freely exercise his or her conscience.

But Pataki said he would have fired Davis for violating the law.

"I didn't agree with the Supreme Court's decision but it is the law of the land," Pataki said.

While the four candidates traded barbs over numerous issues, there were also calls for the GOP to focus on the ultimate prize of taking back the White House.

"If it is Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders (that becomes president), they're going to pick people we're going to disagree with all the time," Graham said in reference to Supreme Court nominations. "Please understand that we have to win this election."

(CNN)