Good morning and welcome to Monday. Tomorrow is the next big contest in the presidential nominating contest, next door in Wisconsin. Let’s take a look at the Digest.
1. The stakes are high for all the candidates, but many top Republicans hope Wisconsin will mark the beginning of the end of Donald Trump’s hopes to go into the GOP national convention with enough delegates to win the nomination. A poll last week showed Ted Cruz with a 10-point lead, but the same poll showed Trump doing well in northern and western Wisconsin. (MPR News)
2. The two Democrats are in a tight race in Wisconsin with polls showing Bernie Sanders with a slight edge. And reading what people have to say in this piece gives you a good idea why the Badger State can be a difficult place to predict. (Star Tribune)
3. Bernie Sanders may well have been in position to take the nomination outright from Hillary Clinton if he had defeated her in the first three states that voted. At least that’s what some of his top staffers believe as they look back on what they could have done differently. (New York Times)
4. Republican U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen and his family have taken more than $75,000 worth of free trips paid for by outside groups and charities since 2013. It’s all legal, but for some watchdogs it raises questions about who gets access to politicians. (Star Tribune)
5. At the end of the year more than a third of the tea party members of Congress elected in 2010 will be gone. (NPR)
