Trump rivals fail to haul him over the coals

Des Moines – Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have pitched Republicans on their bids to be the 2024 presidential candidate in the final debate before nominating begins – but spurned repeated chances to make the case for abandoning front-runner Donald Trump.

The head-to-head showdown in Iowa capital Des Moines on Wednesday came five days before the state’s pivotal opening vote in the primary season, considered crucial for winnowing the field and giving those left standing a springboard for the rest of the race.

Trump has a commanding lead despite the multiple legal challenges he faces, but has skipped the televised debates, concluding he has nothing to gain by taking prime-time hits from lower-polling rivals.

With no other candidate qualifying and the contest’s most vocal Trump critic, Chris Christie, dropping out hours earlier, the pair were expected to go after the ex-president more directly than in previous debates.

But it quickly became clear that they were competing to be the absent former president’s closest runner-up in Iowa rather than looking to eat into his lead as they ducked repeat opportunities to criticise him.

DeSantis, Florida’s governor and a hardline conservative, set the tone early on by calling Haley a “mealy-mouthed politician who just tells you what she thinks you want to hear.”

“Donald Trump is running to pursue his issues. Nikki Haley is running to pursue her donors’ issues. I’m running to pursue your issues and your family’s issues and to turn this country around,” he said, dusting off a favourite campaign line.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, hit out at DeSantis’ runaway campaign spending and repeatedly directed viewers to a website dedicated to enumerating all of her opponent’s “lies”.

“Every time he lies... don’t turn this into a drinking game because you will be overserved by the end of the night,” she said.

The pair spent much of the debate on alternating monologues rehearsing prepared opposition research, aggressively trading barbs on their records and policies running their states.

DeSantis is seeking to regain ground lost to Haley and his path to the nomination depends on a strong showing in Iowa.

Haley is looking to outperform expectations in the Midwestern state and ride into a one-on-one match-up with Trump in her preferred battleground of New Hampshire.

But much of the campaign has been overshadowed by the legal woes facing Trump, who often arranges “counterprogramming” to draw attention away from the debates. He was taking part in a Fox News town hall event elsewhere in Des Moines – his first live appearance on the network in two years. –