Reeling from their losses in Tuesday's Democratic and Republican primaries, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas abruptly reordered their campaigns on Wednesday, aiming to preserve some small hope that the race might yet turn in their favor.
Mr. Cruz named a running mate, Carly Fiorina, to help bring down Donald J. Trump, the Republican favorite, and both spoke of Mr. Trump in the language of relentless opposition, casting him as a sinister figure who must not be allowed to become president.
On the Democratic side, Mr. Sanders said he would scale back his upstart bid for the White House and lay off hundreds of campaign workers, a measure seemingly intended to extend the life of his candidacy but not to prepare for a general election.
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In an interview, Mr. Sanders acknowledged in the strongest terms yet that Hillary Clinton's delegate lead might have closed off his path to the nomination, and he was less combative toward his party's front-runner in his moment of apparent defeat, taking a tone of cold realism, if not quite resignation.