And Missouri has fallen off the list of tipping point states, meaning that it is very unlikely to be a decisive state in determining the winner of the Electoral College.
The reason that Clinton lost the electoral college, and in turn the election, was that she failed to appeal to enough white women, especially in decisive states.
The decisive state in the 2000 election, of course, was Florida.
The simultaneous state elections resulted in a decisive Liberal win in Tasmania and a likely hung parliament in South Australia, where the focus is now turning to negotiations with two independents.
To confront a Thompson candidacy, Mr. Romney's aides said they were adding to their forces in South Carolina, the state with the fourth nominating contest, in hopes of handing Mr. Thompson a decisive defeat in a state with a heavy conservative population and where he presumably has regional appeal.
Meanwhile Hatch, a 78-year-old stalwart of the Republican Party who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, commanded a decisive lead over former state senator Dan Liljenquist, who is 37.
Candidates like Cruz and Trump have long been campaigning in southern states; a decisive performance could elevate one such hopeful as a clear frontrunner.
Agnes Sire, for 20 years desk editor of Magnum (Paris), described it as taken in "not so much a decisive moment as in the state of spirit that he called a state of grace".
Addressing a large crowd of cheering supporters Thursday evening after the Bharatiya Janata Party won a decisive victory in the state elections in Gujarat, its polarizing leader Narendra Modi thanked the state's voters for coming out in large numbers, even as he appeared to reach out to Indians all over the country.
