It’s assumed she means former President Trump will likely win the Iowa caucuses, then New Hampshire will instead hand her a first-place finish. Thus, the Iowa caucus results have been “corrected.”
That’s a fairly condescending tone toward Iowa voters and a rather wide slice of the Republican electorate in general. But, of course, what else is Nikki Haley going to say?
Trump and DeSantis are all-in on Iowa, New Hampshire is the only place where Haley has a fighting stand among the early states so far, as reported by The Hill:
GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley told a group of New Hampshire voters Wednesday that she trusts them to “correct” the results of the Iowa caucuses later this month.
“We have an opportunity to get this right. And I know we’ll get it right and I trust you. I trust every single one of you. You know how to do this. You know Iowa starts it. You know that you correct it,” she said at a campaign event in New Hampshire.
“And then my sweet state of South Carolina brings it home. That’s what we do,” she added.
Where have we heard this strategy before? That’s right, in 2016 with Marco Rubio. His campaign was touting the 3-2-1 route of placing third in Iowa, second in New Hampshire, and then winning outright in South Carolina. After that, it would be all gravy on his way to the nomination.
In reality, Rubio did place third in Iowa, then went on to take fifth in New Hampshire, then second in South Carolina and Nevada. In other words, his standing did improve from third place but never enough to win against Trump.
Haley’s banking on something similar but the same premise still applies. If you can’t win outright in winner-take-most primaries in terms of convention delegates, rearranging the chairs between second and fifth is meaningless.
Furthermore, if Trump does succeed by winning the Iowa caucuses, a place where he failed in 2016, it’s going to give him new momentum heading into the next few states. If Trump sweeps all the early states, Super Tuesday on March 5 will be the end of the process.
There will be no money left for candidates wasting time and resources running against the obvious front-runner and presumed nominee.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds took issue with Haley’s comments, of course:
I trust Iowans to make their own decisions. No “corrections” needed!
— Kim Reynolds (@KimReynoldsIA) January 4, 2024
Reynolds has put her eggs in DeSantis’ basket. If Trump wins, however, will she take back her claim that no “correction” is needed?
Haley and DeSantis will both be appearing on CNN tonight in back-to-back town hall events from Des Moines:
In back-to-back CNN town hall events at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, Haley and DeSantis will face questions from likely GOP caucus-goers and anchors Kaitlan Collins and Erin Burnett about their visions for the future – and why they, more than Trump or anyone else, are best-positioned to defeat President Joe Biden in the fall.
Trump will not be in attendance at Grand View, but the specter of his winning a third consecutive GOP presidential nomination will animate the proceedings with DeSantis and Haley both ratcheting up their attacks on Trump in recent weeks – even as they steer clear of the kind of firm denunciation that could cost them points with undecided conservatives.
DeSantis is up first at 9 p.m. ET with Collins, and Haley is scheduled to follow at 10 p.m. ET with Burnett.
This won’t be the “closing argument” for Iowa, but it’ll contain the last-ditch effort to sway voters away from Trump.
The Jan. 10 debate between Haley and DeSantis will garner more views than individual town halls and will be the final chance both candidates have to speak to a wider audience of possible Iowa caucus voters.
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