Haley campaign makes $4 million in ad buys in South Carolina

Nikki Haley's campaign announced Saturday that she is making a $4 million purchase of television, radio and digital advertising in South Carolina, starting the day after the New Hampshire primary, as she looks for a one-in-one -one match with Donald J. Trump.

The reservation, which was announced by Ms. Haley's campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, at an event hosted by Bloomberg News, will cover all seven media markets in the state. It was presented as an indication of her intention to stay in the race regardless of the outcome on Tuesday.

“I know everyone wants us to put a song on it,” Ms. Ankney said of how she should perform. “We have never done that before. We will never do that.”

Ms. Haley has campaigned aggressively in New Hampshire, the state where she has voted most strongly against Trump, though she still trails the former president by double digits in polling averages. Ms. Ankney repeatedly declined to describe what she would consider a strong performance in New Hampshire, other than to say Ms. Haley had to show “incremental progress” against Mr. Trump.

“There are no specific benchmarks for what we should or shouldn't do,” she said.

Ms. Ankney, echoing Ms. Haley, presented the race as a choice between a Biden-Trump rematch “with two 80-year-old men” or a next-generation nominee, though she acknowledged that the road ahead is steep .

“Defeating Donald Trump is not easy,” Ms. Ankney said. “He's a juggernaut. But how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”