In the monthslong slog leading up to Iowa and New Hampshire, Nikki Haley's campaign advisers urged reporters to keep in mind the former U.N. ambassador's so-called secret weapon in the GOP primary: upward momentum.
Two presidential nominating losses later, that theory of the case is on shaky ground. Haley endured another public-relations nightmare Tuesday evening when Nevada Republicans chose the "none of these candidates" option over Haley in the state's GOP primary, where Trump did not appear on the ballot and no delegates were awarded. (The former president is expected to sail to victory in Thursday's state-GOP-run caucus, where delegates are up for grabs.)
For their part, Haley's advisers are downplaying the Nevada results.
"We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada," Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said during an expectation-setting press call Monday morning. "We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump."
As Haley barrels toward her home state of South Carolina, where she served as governor from 2011 to 2017 and where she continues to trail Trump by double digits in most polls, Ankney maintains that her candidate will "continue to fight as long as we have the momentum and resources to do so." It was that momentum, which received significant press attention in the weeks leading up to Iowa, that allowed Haley to win key donor support away from Ron DeSantis as his numbers began to flag.
But now, as that pre-Iowa surge grows stale, Haley's camp is tempering expectations in South Carolina as it continues to set its sights on a number of upcoming open or semi-open primaries on Super Tuesday. In an open primary, voters do not have to formally register with a political party ahead of Election Day in order to vote in that party's primary. In a semi-open primary, voters who are not affiliated with a political party can choose which party's primary they would like to participate in.
Of 874 delegates up for grabs on March 5, nearly two-thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries, including Texas, Maine, and Virginia. The campaign is eyeing several states that have a large contingent of college-educated voters, suburban voters, and independents, who tend to support Haley over Trump. Those states include Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina . . .
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