Candidates vie for 5 Northeastern states

Presidential frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump seek to deliver knockout blows to their rivals in Tuesday’s five high-stakes primaries, with pressure mounting to wrap up the nomination races and pivot toward the general election battle.

Clinton, aiming to become the nation’s first female commander in chief, faces a resilient liberal senator, Bernie Sanders, whose grassroots campaign to highlight income inequality has mobilized millions of young voters.

But the former secretary of state is poised to extend her delegate lead Tuesday, when Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island host their primaries.

A canopy of drama hangs over the Republican race, where the math points to a contested convention.

That means Trump will have to defy the odds with particularly strong showings through the remainder of the statewide contests if he is to win the nomination outright before the party’s delegates gather in Cleveland in July to pick their nominee.

Snatching most of the Republican delegates at stake April 26 would propel him that much closer to reaching the 1,237 delegates needed to nail down the nomination.

His campaign is increasingly on notice, however, that the provocative celebrity billionaire would need to surpass that number and not merely outperform rivals Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. (AFP)

Here’s a look at the candidates on the campaign trail.

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