Nikki Haley was swamped in Nevada’s symbolic Republican presidential primary as GOP voters resoundingly picked the “none of these candidates” option on the ballot in a repudiation of the former U.N. ambassador who is the last remaining major rival to front-runner Donald Trump.
They still amount to an embarrassment for Haley, who has sought to position herself as a candidate who can genuinely compete against Trump.
Instead, she became the first presidential candidate to lose a race to “none of these candidates” since that option was introduced in Nevada in 1975.
Haley had said beforehand she was going to “focus on the states that are fair” and did not campaign in the western state in the weeks leading up to the caucuses, spending time instead in her home state, South Carolina, before its Feb. 24 primary.
Her campaign wrote off the results with a reference to Nevada’s famous casino industry. Just a thought.