Two New England newspaper weighed in on the Republican presidential primary race over the weekend. Does any of it matter?
And then there were two – Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign Sunday. The same day, the New Hampshire Union Leader and the Boston Globe ran endorsements of Haley in their newspapers. Too little, too late to change the trajectory of the race? Barring any unexpected political earthquakes, yes.
On Sunday, the Boston Globe offered Nikki Haley a tepid endorsement that reads more like an indictment of former President Trump than a vote of confidence in Haley. In fact, the Globe’s editorial board calls out Trump by name 8 times in their endorsement before they get around to mentioning Haley’s name.
The Globe opined, “Haley’s not this editorial board’s cup of tea. But she is a mainstream, traditional conservative who would not put the country through constant scandals or take a torch to basic principles of democratic government like accepting election results.”The Globe is appealing to independent voters who are allowed to vote in either of the major party’s primaries, to choose a republican ballot and use it to vote against Trump by backing Haley.
In a second key newspaper endorsement for Haley on Sunday, the New Hampshire Union leader is far more enthusiastic about Haley’s candidacy with the editorial board writing, “Of course, we can’t talk about Nikki Haley without addressing the elephant in the room and the rather old donkey hiding in the White House. Nikki Haley is an opportunity to vote for a candidate rather than against those two. A candidate who can run circles around the dinosaurs from the last two administrations, backwards and in heels.”
A tepid endorsement for any Republican candidate is not a surprise from the Boston Globe. It’s a liberal newspaper that will throw its support behind Biden in the general election. The newspaper just wants to go on the record in its support of any Republican other than Trump.
The endorsement by the New Hampshire Union Leader was a more traditional political endorsement. Some enthusiasm and the Ginger Rogers reference was a nice touch. The endorsement appealed to independent voters, with whom support for Nikki is strong, if the polls are to be believed. New Hampshire voters like to shake the primary race up and there is history in the state of last-minute decisions by voters but it is hard to imagine that Nikki could pull off a victory over Trump in New Hampshire.
Nikki Haley for President is releasing a 3-minute campaign television ad that features the mother of Otto Warmbier, Cindy Warmbier. The ad features Cindy’s endorsement of Haley when her campaign was launched in South Carolina. It’s a powerful ad that highlights Haley’s foreign policy experience and the human interest story of Haley’s support of Otto’s mother. As we remember, it was Trump who brought Otto home from North Korea. There is no mention of Trump, of course, but Haley’s campaign has said that Trump “publicly absolved” Kim Jong-un. The ad airs today.
I expect that Haley will remain in the primary race through her home state of South Carolina. Then she will have to confront the reality that Trump has the momentum in the race. Everything that has been thrown against him has only caused his support to grow. Republicans are not ready to quit him. Haley is young. She celebrated her 52nd birthday in New Hampshire over the weekend. If she wants to run again, there is plenty of time for her to do so.
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