The Latest: Clinton courts NC with public education pledge

The Democratic presidential candidate says North Carolina served as a model of public education in the South during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s but Republicans in the state have slashed teacher salaries and education funding.

Republicans hoping to stop presidential candidate Donald Trump were quickly deploying forces in Ohio Thursday as one of their last battlefronts ahead of Tuesday's crucial cluster of winner-take-all primaries.

Some anti-Trump groups said they were rushing to air television advertisements in Ohio, where home-state Gov. John Kasich has crept into a dead heat with the billionaire businessman, after the groups poured millions into Florida, despite Trump's solid lead there.

The Democratic presidential contender added that "you don't make American great by, you know, dumping on everything that made America great, like freedom of speech and assembly and, you know, the right of people to protest."

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is campaigning through Florida in an effort to keep up the momentum from his surprise Rust Belt state win earlier in the week.

A leading Muslim civil rights group is calling on GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump to apologize for his claim that Islam hates the west.

Utah Sen. Mike Lee is planning to endorse Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, making him the first in the U.S. senate to publicly endorse the Republican presidential hopeful.

A person with knowledge of the endorsement tells The Associated Press that the Utah senator will make his endorsement formal in an announcement later Thursday.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's presidential super PAC is pushing back against ads airing in his must-win home state by backers of rival Marco Rubio.

Hillary Clinton says in Tampa, Florida, that she wants to take her "vision and views" to the general election — and it doesn't matter which Republican candidate she faces.

The joke, which came in the middle of a debate over Republicans' decision to block President Obama's eventual Supreme Court nominee, was met with only tepid laughs.

President Barack Obama says Donald Trump's positions aren't different from those of the other Republican presidential candidates — he's just more provocative in talking about them.

Obama says he takes responsibility for failing to bridge political divides, but says he has not contributed to the worsening tone of political rhetoric.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has landed the high-profile endorsement of Ohio State's head football coach ahead of the state's critical presidential primary.

Kasich has been lining up high-profile endorsements, including movie star and former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, headed into his home state primary.

Anxious Republican officials are coming to terms with the idea that their second least favorite presidential candidate — polarizing Texas conservative Ted Cruz — may be the party's best last chance to stop Donald Trump.

Reluctant Senate colleagues and former presidential rivals have long feared Cruz's purist ideology but fear the prospect of a Trump nomination more.