Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley was set to campaign across New Hampshire this weekend in a final push against Republican rival\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0ahead of Tuesday\u2019s\u00a0nominating contest, as the former U.S. president\u00a0ramped up his verbal attacks\u00a0and again targeted her Indian heritage.Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, has hit back at her former boss following his Iowa caucuses victory last Monday in a bid to thwart his momentum and pitch herself as the best alternative to face Democratic\u00a0President Joe Biden\u00a0in\u00a0November\u2019s general election.New Hampshire boasts a more moderate brand of Republicanism with a semi-open primary that can attract more centrist voters, who may be turned off by Trump\u2019s four criminal cases, authoritarian language and efforts to overturn his 2020 re-election loss.One of two remaining candidates challenging Trump for the Republican nomination, Haley needs a strong showing after placing third narrowly behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as Trump handily won in Iowa, the first stop in the state-by-state battle to determine the party\u2019s choice to face Biden.The second Republican contest could help her build support as a viable alternative to Trump \u2013 or close her already-narrow path to the nomination even before reaching South Carolina\u2019s contest next month.Haley is scheduled to sprint across independent-leaning New Hampshire with three stops ahead of a rally on Saturday and four more events on Sunday and Monday.Trump also returned to New Hampshire for evening rallies throughout the weekend.DeSantis, who had largely written off New Hampshire, held a brief\u00a0last-minute stop\u00a0on Friday before three events Saturday in South Carolina.Haley\u00a0sharpened some barbs\u00a0against Trump during her final campaign swing through New Hampshire even as she paired them with attacks on Biden and told CNN she would pardon Trump if he is convicted on criminal charges.On Friday, however, she ruled out serving as his vice presidential running mate as he continued to slam her, including again targeting her given first name on his social media platform. Trump has also amplified false posts questioning her birthright U.S. citizenship.Haley, the daughter of two immigrants from India, was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa but has long used her middle name Nikki and later took her husband\u2019s surname.(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is campaigning in New Hampshire to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. She is positioning herself as the best alternative to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the general election. New Hampshire has a more moderate brand of Republicanism and a semi-open primary that can attract centrist voters. Haley needs a strong showing in New Hampshire to build support as an alternative to Trump. Trump is also holding rallies in New Hampshire. Haley has criticized Trump and said she would pardon him if he is convicted on criminal charges. Trump has targeted Haley’s Indian heritage and questioned her U.S. citizenship. Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa but has used her middle name Nikki and her husband’s surname.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2114,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[492,3,166,114,489,18],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-biden","tag-cyprus","tag-donald-trump","tag-top-news","tag-us-elections","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n