MANCHESTER, N.H. (CBS NEWS) – The race for the Republican presidential nomination is now focused on New Hampshire. All three GOP candidates were in the Granite State Wednesday ahead of next week’s pivotal primary.
Polls show former president Donald Trump ahead, but not by nearly as much as in Iowa. Nikki Haley is polling a close second.
“I’m thrilled to be back with the people of the great state of New Hampshire,” Trump said at a rally in New Hampshire.
As snow descended on the Granite State, so, too, did the GOP presidential candidates. Former president Trump is splitting his time this week between the campaign trail and the courtroom, as he faces a second defamation suit in Manhattan– all a sign he sees 91 charges and four criminal cases against him as a political advantage among Republican voters. He denies any wrongdoing.
“If I didn’t get indicted all these times and if they didn’t unfairly go after me, I would have won, but it would have been much closer, I tell you,” Trump said.
But the reaction among Republican primary voters in New Hampshire appears mixed.
“I think I can overlook that. I think his policy is so important to me and what he’s going to do for the country,” said Sandy Grenier, a Trump supporter.
“I’m done with the drama. We know that the nation is looking at us now and we’re gonna turn out,” said Carole Alfano, a Haley supporter.
In a pitch to the state’s independent sensibilities, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley is urging voters to turn the page.
“It’s about the differences between Trump and with me,” Haley told Caitlin Huey-Burns of CBS News. “And I’ll tell you, look, we don’t want two 80-year-olds to be our options.”
But another controversy is following Haley after she was asked Tuesday on “Fox & Friends” whether she thinks the GOP is a racist party.
“No, we’re we’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been a racist country,” Haley said.
After eking out a second-place finish in Iowa, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants to slow Haley’s momentum in New Hampshire.
“She does not have the ability to build the type of coalition that you need to win a Republican primary, period, much less take on Donald Trump,” DeSantis said.
And there will be plenty of candidate events in New Hampshire over the next six days, but no debates before New Hampshire voters weigh in next week. There was one originally scheduled for Thursday, but Nikki Haley dropped out saying that she would only show if Trump did.
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