Clinton and Trump won Arizona on Tuesday. (Northern Ireland Executive / CC BY-ND 2.0 / Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0

11:58 p.m. PST:

Clinton and Trump may have taken Arizona, but rivals Cruz and Sanders had major wins in Utah as the latter also took Idaho. The latest results show Sanders receiving close to 80 percent of the vote in both Utah and Idaho–‘yuge’ wins for the Vermont senator.

Take a look at the numbers below and check The New York Times’ interactive map for the most up-to-date results.

8:38 p.m. PST: CNN is projecting wins for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in Arizona. So, evidently, are Trump and Clinton:

* * *8:30 p.m. PST:

True to form, Trump took to the Twitterverse to rustle up a Western Tuesday ruckus with rival Ted Cruz.

Trouble began when the real estate magnate accused Cruz of using a nude photo of Trump’s wife, Melania, in an anti-Trump ad targeting Mormon voters on Facebook. The man most likely to bring on a brokered GOP debate also hit out at Cruz’s wife, Heidi, threatening to expose her in some vague yet menacing manner.

Here’s Trump’s tweet:

Cruz denied Trump’s charge:

And in fact, it did seem that Cruz was belying Trump’s nickname for him. One Liz Mair, representing the super PAC Make America Awesome—yes, that’s really its name—claimed ownership of the ad on behalf of her organization, thus cutting short another gentlemanly exchange on social media:

Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if Trump made good on his quid pro quo threat in coming days, especially if Cruz gets any traction out West on Tuesday night.

* * *6:26 p.m. PST:

The news of terrorist attacks in Brussels cast a pall over the presidential primaries held Tuesday in Utah, Arizona and Idaho. How did it impact the outcome? We’ll be reporting here on how the five remaining presidential candidates fared at the polls.

First, a little background: Once again, there were some differences between the Republican and Democratic contests, as well as between the favored formats in participating states. Democratic voters took part in caucuses in Utah and Idaho, as well as in a primary in Arizona, while their GOP counterparts participated in the proceedings in Utah and Arizona but not Idaho.

Here are a couple of choice observations and conjectures from The New York Times’ “Western Tuesday” roundup:

Can Cruz top 50 in Utah?

The most significant question looming over Tuesday’s contests is whether Senator Ted Cruz of Texas can exceed 50 percent of the vote in Utah. If so, he would take all 40 of the state’s delegates and mitigate Donald J. Trump’s expected victory in Arizona, a state that allocates all 58 of its delegates to the top vote-getter.

[…] A desert bellwether for California

Arizona would be an important contest on any night: It is the third largest winner-take-all state of the Republican race.

But it is also the first big primary in the West, where the Republican race could easily be decided.

[…] Giddyap, Mr. Sanders

Mr. Sanders may face a daunting delegate deficit after his defeats on March 15, but he may be on the verge of a wave of successes.

Tuesday begins a series of contests in friendly territory for him. He is a strong favorite in both Utah and Idaho, where he could win by a two-to-one margin or better. A win in Arizona would show his resilience after a weak performance last week. Even if he fails to sweep the three states, he could follow up with strong performances in Hawaii, Washington, Alaska and Wisconsin over the next few weeks.

–Posted by Kasia Anderson

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#arizona#bernie sanders#brussels#democrats#donald trump#election#gop#hillary clinton#idaho#john kasich#president#primary#ted cruz#terrorism#utah