Trump rails against delegate system; Clinton looks to Pa.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Clinton, the nearly unstoppable Democrat, and Republican front-runner Donald Trump accelerated Wednesday toward Northeast primaries on an increasingly direct path to presidential nominations after trouncing party challengers in New York.

Trump is focused heavily on clinching the Republican nomination through voters' balloting in state primaries, thus avoiding a contested national convention in Cleveland in July.

The side-by-side GOP efforts at this late stage — with Trump amassing primary victories while Cruz digs for the support of delegates who could settle the nomination — are unprecedented in recent presidential campaigns and add to the deeply uncertain nature of the race.

Later, Cruz conceded to reporters covering the Republican National Committee's spring meeting in Florida that he cannot win the GOP nomination before the convention but insisted Trump couldn't either.

While the messy nomination fight will be a focus of the RNC meeting, party leaders are painfully aware that any rule changes could fuel Trump's charges of an unfair system.

Mindful of a need to avoid errors like the ones that plagued his campaign in recent weeks, Trump has hired a more professional political staff, been more careful on social media and infused his victory remarks in New York with flashes of policy proposals.