New Hampshire Republicans 'disappointed' Nikki Haley isn't fighting harder in the state
As Republicans here seek a standard-bearer, Nikki Haley is making herself scarce, and GOP insiders say that could doom her long-shot bid to beat Trump.
MANCHESTER, N.H. — As Republicans here seek a standard-bearer, Nikki Haley is making herself scarce, and GOP insiders say that could doom her long-shot bid to beat former President Donald Trump in Tuesday's primary.
Haley has forced the cancellation of two planned debates in New Hampshire — one sponsored by ABC News and the other by CNN — by refusing to go toe-to-toe with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Her schedule is light on campaign stops in a state where candidates typically pack their days with events. And, since failing to identify slavery as a cause of the Civil War last month, she has stopped taking questions on stage from voters.
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Haley's team is gambling that less of her will end up being more in a race that is down to three candidates, with one of them — DeSantis — already having decided to pack it in and move his fading campaign to South Carolina.
That's a bad bet, said Dave Carney, a veteran New Hampshire-based Republican strategist who described the state's history of vetting presidential candidates through free-flowing town hall-style forums as sacred. Haley’s refusal to debate and take questions at her first post-Iowa event in the state could kill her campaign, he said.
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