Former U.S. President Donald Trump beats out former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley to win the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary race.
Nikki Haley swept the first votes cast in New Hampshire, but it was downhill from there.
In the town of Dixville Notch, which has this strange ritual of voting after midnight, all six votes went to Haley, with journalists outnumbering them 10 to 1.
It was clear that many at CNN and MSNBC were rooting for Haley, grasping at exit-poll figures that seemed favorable and downplaying Trump-friendly statistics, such as that 63% described themselves as very or somewhat conservative. «The Nikki Haley campaign has to be happy so far with what they’re seeing,» MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow said.
Well, not so much. When the last polls closed at 8 p.m. ET, the cable news networks said the race was «too early to call.» By then, Trump had jumped out to a 52 to 46% lead.
Within 13 minutes, NBC and Fox News projected Donald Trump the winner. Five minutes later, CNN called the primary for Trump as well.
The only question now was the margin.
Almost immediately, Haley came out smiling and swinging away, as if she had just cruised to victory. «What a great night. God is so good. Thank you, New Hampshire!»
She seemed detached from reality, until she devoted one sentence to congratulating Trump on his victory.
Then the former governor declared «we got close to half the vote.» Except, well, in a two-person race that’s not good enough.
Haley then started attacking the man who named her U.N. ambassador, a montage of lines she has used before. Clearly fired up, she said Republicans have lost election after election under Trump. She said it was «time to put the negativity and chaos behind us.» She said Trump had a «senior moment,» after describing how he blamed her for Jan. 6 when he meant Nancy Pelosi. And her favorite, well-worn line: «A Trump nomination is a Biden win and a Kamala Harris presidency.»
By the time Haley finished, Trump’s lead was up to 10%. Half an hour later, it was up to 12%.
On CNN, former Obama White House official David Axelrod expressed doubt that Haley would want to contest her home state of South Carolina, where Trump has a huge lead in the polls.
Even Maddow conceded «she can’t win in South Carolina.»
When Trump came out, he mocked Haley’s address:
«She’s doing a speech like she won. She didn’t win, she lost… She pretended she won Iowa… She had a very bad night… She’s still hanging around.
