Until Super Tuesday, Donald Trump set the narrative for each primary contest, as he was an apparently unstoppable juggernaut. That changed on March 1, when he had a good (but not a great) night by carrying 7 out of the 11 GOP contests. And after a less than stellar debate performance this past Thursday night (combined with increasingly stiff resistance to a Trump nomination from partisan Republicans), Trump turned in a more modest performance in yesterday’s contests, only winning two of the four primaries/caucuses. Is the GOP nomination (with four candidates remaining) at an inflection point as we steadily move towards big state/”winner take all” contests ? Below are the highlights from the seven contests that were held yesterday for both the Democrats and Republicans:

1. Yesterday’s contests had one thing in common: they were closed contests, meaning that only registered Republicans and Democrats could participate – Independents/unaffiliateds were shut out, in other words;

2. These more restrictive “contest universes” certainly contributed towards the easy Ted Cruz victories both in Kansas (where he defeated Donald Trump 48-23%) and in Maine (where he defeated Donald Trump 46-33%);

3. While Donald Trump did win Kentucky, it was a more narrow 36-32% victory over Cruz. And while “a win is a a win”, next door Tennessee just five days ago supported Trump by a wider 39-25% margin over Cruz. So there is obviously some slippage that has occurred for the Trump campaign, as well as a consolidation of the “anti Trump” vote behind Cruz;

4. The Louisiana primary (the other contests yesterday were all caucuses) was an even more interesting story: Trump defeated Cruz 41-38%, but there was a substantial disparity in the vote. Louisiana allows early voting, and 16% early voted (early voting ended BEFORE the debate this past Thursday night). This voter bloc was solidly (47-23%) for Trump, while Rubio got 20% and Kasich 4%. The election day vote, however, went to Ted Cruz 41-40%, or a 600 vote margin out of 253K Election Day votes cast (Rubio got 10%, and 7% voted for Kasich). For the Trump vote to have slipped as much as it did, and for Cruz to have doubled his support in a week’s time (early voting ended February 27) strongly suggests that an “anyone but Trump” demographic has emerged among Republicans;

5. As with all prior contests, enthusiasm was again on the Republicans’ side yesterday: in Louisiana alone, over 301K Republicans participated, for a 36% turnout. This turnout was nearly double the 2012 and 2008 figures of 186K and 161K. In the other contests (which were all caucuses), 321K participated. This number was noticeably higher than the 212K who participated in 2012 and the 223K who voted in 2008.

6. (REVISED 3/6 PM)  Democratic enthusiasm has been healthy, but was nowhere near the 2008 numbers (that was the year both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton battled it out until June): while 426K Democrats participated (312K from Louisiana), that number is still less than the 505K who participated in the 2008 contests (384K of that was from Louisiana). At this point, it’s also worth noting that the Democratic contests have seemed to follow a pattern: Hillary’s dominance among the “big three” Democratic constituencies of unions, Hispanics, and blacks again helped and hurt her yesterday. While she (unsurprisingly) dominated 71-23% in Louisiana over Bernie Sanders, Sanders comfortably carried both Kansas (68-32%), Nebraska (57-43%), and Maine (64-36%). This pattern means two things to Hillary: (1) she’s almost certain to be the Democratic nominee, but (2) it will be a protracted battle.

So where does the GOP contest stand now ? Given that the formerly steady stream of contest wins by Donald Trump has halted (combined with newfound strength from the Cruz, and not the Rubio, campaign as the “anti Trump”), it will be interesting to see if last week’s contests were a temporary blip for Trump, or whether there is a true change in direction for the GOP nomination contest. Tuesday’s contests in Hawaii, Idaho, Michigan, and Mississippi should provide some additional clues. As will the “winner take all” contests in the bigger states which will commence on March 15.