Could Donald Trump understand and be afraid of THAT?
Trump HAS contiuned to attack here as she keeps traveling the country and campaigning and YES collecting money….
Trump maybe winning the promary contests…
BUT?
Haley STILL IS winning a solid 25-30% of the Republicans vote….
Trump has NOT goten about 65% in any place so far….
Super Tuesday is coming …..
We’ll how it plays….
Hmmmmm?
Her travel schedule until Super Tuesday seems perfectly aligned with this strategy. She first held two rallies in Michigan in advance of that state’s primary. She then headed to Minnesota for a Minneapolis event. Both upper Midwestern states are known for their relatively moderate politics and have no party registration, allowing independents and stray Democrats to cast Republican ballots. The fact that Marco Rubio won Minnesota’s 2016 caucuses surely adds credence to Haley’s thought that it might be in play.
Haley jetted to Colorado this week, another moderate state with a high level of educational attainment that allows registered independents to cast Republican ballots. Her rally’s location — Centennial, in the Denver suburbs — speaks volumes about her target audience. Centennial has a median household income of nearly $125,000, according to the Census Bureau, with over 61 percent of adults 25 and older having at least a four-year college degree.
A best case scenario there would be to replicate Joe O’Dea’s nine-point winover a MAGA opponent in the GOP’s 2022 Senate primary. O’Dea won large margins in the Denver metro area and the state’s liberal college and ski counties to drown out his foe’s rural strength.
Then Haley streaks to Utah, which holds a caucus on Super Tuesday. That appears to be a strange choice until one recalls that Mormons strongly opposed Trump in 2016. He finished third in that year’s GOP contest, garnering only 14 percent. He’ll do much better than that this year, but there’s enough lingering discontent among members of the Church of Latter-day Saints to give her an outside shot.
After that, she’s back to the East Coast where she holds rallies in North Carolina, Virginia, and the nation’s capital. D.C. is probably her best bet to win because it’s the headquarters of the anti-Trump GOP elite. Rubio and John Kasich combined to get nearly 73 percent here in 2016. If Haley can’t win here, she can’t win anywhere….
…
Massachusetts, neighboring Vermont and Maine all allow independents to vote in their Super Tuesday contests and typically prefer more moderate Republicans. Haley will be betting they will make a final stand despite the odds against her.
Winning five of these states is a huge stretch, but it’s not impossible. Pull it off and she has the strength she needs to negotiate the terms of her departure with Trump. She won’t get much, but anything tangible gives her something to crow about — and perhaps a springboard for future elections?
Perhaps Haley has no grand strategy, just a desire to keep going and hope for the best. But win or lose, Haley will soon have to end her guerrilla struggle. Whatever her intent, it’s much better for her to exit with a negotiated peace than an unconditional surrender. Soon we’ll see whether she has the leverage to get something from the master of the deal…..
Note….
Haley maybe a step away from Secret Service Protection….
image…Jamie Kelter Davis / Politico