“This is a marathon“It’s not a sprint.” With those words Nikki Haley I remembered this Tuesday, while the Republican primaries in New Hampshirethat He does not plan to abandon his race against Donald Trump to try to achieve the presidential nomination of the conservative party for November, no matter what happens at the polls today.
Haley’s forcefulness is put to the test by the air of inevitability surrounding Trump, especially after her overwhelming victory in the Iowa caucuses. And it will be put to the test by the results in New Hampshire, which will begin to be known after the closing of the polling stations between seven and eight in the afternoon (between one and two in the morning in peninsular Spain) and that 22 delegates will be distributed proportionally.
With Trump with about 15 points of advantage according to an average of pre-voting polls conducted by FiveThirtyEight, the hope for the former president’s ambassador to the United Nations and former governor for two terms in South Carolina was in what she aimed to be. a high participation. Also in the fundamental independent electoratewhich is about 40% of that of this northeastern state, where the Republican primaries are partially open.
It is those independents and moderates, as well as other Republicans who would like to turn the page on Trump, that Haley tries to convince by offering an alternative path.
Trump, overwhelming
The former president, however, has come to this race with a unusual strength and one perfectly oiled campaign that is perfectly exploiting the information about its bases and potential voters gathered since it entered the political arena in 2015. It has their share of the electorate deliveredstanding in line for hours in the cold to try to get into their rallies and events, aligned with their electoral fraud theories in 2020 and his accusations that his legal problems are a “political persecution”. In New Hampshire it can benefit from the votes that have been orphaned after the withdrawal on Sunday of Ron DeSantis. And see again how the party closes ranks around him.
On Monday, on the eve of the vote, he underlined this by participating in an event where he was accompanied by three of the rivals who challenged him in these primaries: Vivek Ramaswamythe senator Tim Scott and the North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum. At that event, one of the attendees shouted asking for 12 years of presidency (the legal maximum in the US is eight). And Trump replied sarcastically: “Don’t say it too loud. “You know they love to call me a fascist.”
“Elections, not coronations”
Despite Trump’s seemingly unstoppable push, and despite the fact that in the states with the upcoming primaries and caucuses Haley has worse prospects than in New Hampshire, the determination to move forward was also reiterated in a memo this Tuesday by the candidate’s campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, which also used several of the phrases that Haley has been using lately: “We have elections, not coronations”“about 50% of the country wants an alternative to Trump and “75% want an alternative to the duel between Trump and Joe Biden.”
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Ankney was also trying to break the dominant narrative about the difficult road in the next appointments that Haley has, including the next important one February 24 in South Carolina, where Trump leads the former governor by 30 points in the polls. He recalled that in that appointment anyone can vote if he has not voted before in the Democratic primaries.
Ankney also said that “Super Tuesday” March 5, when 16 states and territories vote, has “fertile ground” for Haley, with 11 of the 16 elections with open or semi-open elections. “Until then, take a deep breath,” she wrote. “A month in politics is quite a lifeto. “We see democracy in action, we let people have their voice, that’s how it’s supposed to work.”