Even though exactly one state has weighed in officially on whom the Republican nominee should be for the 2024 cycle, by Tuesday in New Hampshire, it will be all over but the shouting.
Even though exactly one state has weighed in officially on whom the Republican nominee should be for the 2024 cycle, by Tuesday in New Hampshire, it will be all over but the shouting.
Roughly one out of seven registered Iowa Republicans caucused Monday last, and that’s due to a lot of factors. The weather outside was frightful, to borrow a phrase. Iowans are hearty people, but you get below zero with wind chill for a race that isn’t within 30 points, and most people there hardly saw the point in bothering to put on fifteen layers of clothing.
In the Granite State, one poll by the American Research Group shows the race within two points – Donald Trump over Nikki Haley, 46-44%. Ron DeSantis is in a distant third at 6%. This certainly doesn’t comport with the rest of the recent polling showing at least an 11-point lead, and maybe as much as a 19-point margin for the former President.
The one thing that’s certain about all of this is that with a solid plurality of the GOP base, and rapidly approaching a majority, the possibility of stopping Donald Trump from getting the nomination seems about as likely as trying to stop an oncoming freight train by standing on the side of the tracks and sticking out your thumb.
There is, however, a buzzard-like curiosity on how the primary officially closes out, meaning when the other remaining candidates back out, whether they endorse Trump or not, and what happens next.
Nikki Haley has put all her eggs, relatively speaking, into New Hampshire. She of course is holding onto the idea that she can compete in her home state of South Carolina, but she doesn’t have the endorsement of the current governor, Henry McMaster, both of the state’s senators have also now endorsed Donald Trump, and she’s down in a composite of polling in the Palmetto State by around 30. There’s literally nowhere for her to go after that point, and some of her big money donors are saying publicly they’re not going to continue to throw money down an empty hole if she loses New Hampshire and it’s not close.
Ron DeSantis, who appeared last week on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program, at first dodged on whether he was going to be funded and was staying in through the race until Super Tuesday. When Hewitt pressed him on whether he was staying in or not, DeSantis answered more directly.
HH: Are you staying in through all of March’s races? Is there any way Ron DeSantis drops out before the end of March?
RD: Look, my goal is to, is to win the nomination.
