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Trump: win and it's over

Here is the latest on the 2016 presidential race on the eve of Indiana's primary (all times EDT):

8:30 p.m.

Donald Trump is telling supporters at his final rally ahead of Indiana's primary that if he wins the contest Tuesday, the Republican nomination in his.

"If we win in Indiana, it's over with, folks," Trump is telling thousands of cheering supporters at a rally in South Bend.

Trump has been making the case over the last few days that a win in the state should signal an end to rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. Both men are trying to stop Trump from winning a majority of delegates, which would force a contested convention.

But Trump says he's eager to move forward to a one-on-one match with Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

"That's going to be fun," he says.

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8 p.m.

Donald Trump is kicking off his final rally ahead of Indiana's primary with more endorsements from local sports greats.

Trump was introduced in South Bend on Monday evening by former Purdue basketball coach Gene Keady and former Notre Dame basketball coach Digger Phelps.

He also announced the backing Monday of former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz.

"We've had so many great endorsements," says Trump, who has also been endorsed by former Indiana Hoosiers basketball coach Bob Knight.

Phelps says Trump "is the man who will make America great again."

Trump is hoping a decisive win Tuesday in Indiana will establish him as the GOP's inevitable presidential candidate.

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6:37 p.m.

About a dozen protesters are shouting at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz as he campaigns outside of a grocery store on the eve of the Indiana primary.

Backers of GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, Democrat Bernie Sanders and those holding anti-Cruz signs joined together to heckle the Texas senator Monday as he shook hands with supporters on the sidewalk outside the grocery store in Bloomington, Indiana.

Cruz had been confronted by Trump protesters at an earlier stop as well.

His opponents in Bloomington held signs saying, "Indiana doesn't want you!" and chanted "Go home to Canada!"

Several hundred Cruz backers far outnumbered the hecklers. They yelled "Ted! Ted!" as he sampled barbecue, shook hands and posed for selfies.

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Hundreds of protesters are confronting Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in Williamson, W. Va.

Waiting in the pouring rain outside a health centre, they are waving Donald Trump signs and chanting "Kill-ary."

The crowd was visited by former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, who was recently sentenced for a mine safety conspiracy at Upper Big Branch Mine, where 29 miners died in a 2010 explosion.

Clinton is touring a health centre in the midst of a two-day swing through coal country. Comments she made on CNN that Clinton would "put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business" angered many leaders in the region.

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4:44 p.m.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says his rivals' deal to try to stop his march toward the GOP nomination is a big reason they appear to be fading on the eve of the Indiana primary.

He's telling supporters at a performing arts centre in Carmel, Indiana, that "After they made the alliance their numbers tanked." He added: "That's what happens when politicians make deals."

Trump was mocking the fraying alliance between Republican rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich. The two remaining Trump rivals in the GOP contest agreed on which states they would focus in an effort to hobble Trump's progress toward the 1,237 GOP delegates required to clinch the nomination. Yet Trump has dominated recent contests.

Trump also made fun of Cruz for not helping his running mate, Carly Fiorina, when she fell from the stage Sunday.

"Even I would have helped her," Trump said. "That was a weird deal."

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3:22 p.m.

Ted Cruz is sparring with Donald Trump supporters on the eve of the Indiana primary.

Protesters carrying Trump signs confronted the Texas senator as he campaigned in Marion, Indiana on Monday.

One man yelled, "Lyin' Ted!" while standing just a few feet from the Republican presidential candidate. The insult is Trump's pet name for his chief rival.

Cruz responded with a question.

He asked the protester, "What do you like about him? ... Name one thing."

The Trump supporter had a simple response: "Everything."

The exchange came during one of Cruz's five scheduled stops on Monday. He was campaigning alongside Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.

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2:40 p.m.

Ted Cruz's campaign says his choice for running mate, Carly Fiorina, is uninjured after falling on the campaign stage.

Cruz spokeswoman Catherine Frazier says Fiorina missed a step Sunday but was uninjured and continues to campaign on behalf of the senator in Indiana.

Footage of the incident shows Fiorina dropping quickly, with Cruz apparently unaware as he enters and waves to the crowd. Fiorina re-appears a couple seconds later and is seen hugging Cruz's wife Heidi.

The stumble comes as Cruz is trying to shake off the perception that his campaign is in trouble heading into the Indiana primary on Tuesday. Cruz has vowed to keep up his campaign as long as he has a viable route to winning the GOP nomination.

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2:00 p.m.

Donald Trump says he is ready to get on with the general election against Hillary Clinton.

Neither candidate has won their parties' nominations. But Trump is telling reporters at a lunch stop in Indianapolis that he's ready for the pivot, saying he'd "like to get on to Hillary."

Trump, the only Republican with a chance of locking down the delegates needed to win the nomination without a contested convention, says he has "a great relationship" with the people of Indiana and expects to do well in Tuesday's primary.

Of the general election, he adds, "It's sort of already started."

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1:35 p.m.

A spat is brewing between Donald Trump supporters and party officials in New Hampshire over which delegates should hold posts on the powerful convention committees.

Trump won 11 of the state's 23 delegates. New Hampshire rules allow campaigns to hand-select their delegates, in effect ensuring greater loyalty should the nominating process go beyond the first ballot.

But in a perceived move to deny Trump power, the state party is proposing a committee slate that doesn't include any Trump supporters. Each state gets to place two delegates on committees, including the rules committee, which will set the guidelines for selecting a nominee.

Trump's campaign, in response, is launching an effort to control all eight committee seats.

Delegates were originally asked to vote by email on the party's proposed slate. But in the face of backlash — including from non-Trump supporters who see the kerfuffle as an unnecessary headache — the delegates will now vote in person at a Friday meeting.

"In the interest of party unity, I am willing to reschedule the vote at an in person meeting," Horn wrote in the email. She hasn't responded to multiple requests for comment.

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1:33 p.m.

Donald Trump is making an unscheduled stop for lunch in Indianapolis. His motorcade pulled up at Shapiro's Delicatessen just after 1:15 p.m., and the candidate received applause when he walked inside.

Trump, the Republican front-runner, told one patron that he "felt good" about Indiana's primary Tuesday. Another diner asked him a question about taxes and Trump said he "would look into it once I get into office."

Trump then ordered a Reuben sandwich and a Diet Coke.

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12:30 p.m.

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says Indiana's primary on Tuesday will be important to his goal of amassing as many delegates as possible to catch up with rival Hillary Clinton.

And he's acknowledging that's a big challenge. In Evansville, Indiana, Sanders is telling supporters that with 10 states left, his campaign needs to earn more than 50 per cent of the remaining delegates up for grabs. The Vermont senator says he will "fight as hard as we can for every vote."

Sanders says he has won 45 per cent of the pledged delegates awarded so far but only about 7 per cent of the superdelegates — the party leaders who can vote for either Democratic candidate but are overwhelmingly committed to Clinton. Sanders says his campaign has been winning among voters 45 years of age and younger, showing that his ideas are "the ideas for the future of this country."

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10:45 a.m.

Ted Cruz is calling the Indiana primary "neck and neck" and says he'll stay in the Republican presidential race for as long as he has a "viable path to victory."

He spoke to reporters after greeting hundreds of people in northern Indiana at a popular breakfast stop a day before the state's crucial primary.

Cruz is framing a potential fall election match-up between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton as the choice between two "big government, New York liberals."

And he has been trying to rally the politically diverse, working-class swath of voters in northern Indiana, where the industrial economy remains viable but union jobs have declined in recent decades.



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