In Georgia, early voting broke the record by the time it ended Friday. A total of 417,491 ballots were cast early, either by mail or in person, breaking the 2008 record of 271,418 early votes.

“There's an underground thing going on with Trump,” said Lauren “Bubba” McDonald, a state utility worker in Georgia who arrived at the polling place in a 45-foot RV covered in Trump signs. “More people are supporting him than say so.”

Still, the favored candidate of the Republican establishment, Rubio, took the stage back home in Miami on Tuesday delivering what, had the results not been known, would have sounded like a victory speech. Rubio did collect a win in Minnesota, his only victory in the first 15 nominating contests.

“We are so excited about what lies ahead for our campaign,” Rubio said. “You see, just five days ago, we began to unmask the true nature of the front-runner so far in this race. Five days ago, we began to explain to the American people that Donald Trump is a con artist.”

Buoyed by establishment donors that have no other real choice left in the race (Ohio Governor John Kasich has yet to win a state, and hasn't bothered to compete in most), Rubio suggested that he wouldn't drop out any time soon. In his speech, he pointed to his home state's contest on March 15, when 99 delegates are up for grabs.

“Two weeks from tonight right here in Florida we are going to send a message loud and clear,” Rubio said. “We are going to send the message that the party of Lincoln and Reagan and the presidency of the United States will never be held by a con artist.”

Bill Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard, said Wednesday on MSNBC that the Trump threat could necessitate a gentleman's agreement between Rubio and Kasich to defer to one another in the upcoming winner-take-all elections in their home states. “The candidates have to do a better job,” Kristol said.

But it's Texas Senator Ted Cruz, so far, who can make the easier argument as the anti-Trump candidate.

The Texas senator has four victories to Rubio's one, but he's the only candidate in either party who has shown overwhelming success in raising money in all three available methods: small online donations of $25 or $50 from activists, the maximum $2,700 donations bundled by veteran fundraisers, and the six-figure checks that fuel his multiple super-PACs.

“We are the only campaign that has beaten Donald Trump once, twice, three times,” Cruz said at a rally outside Houston.