Negative, Defensive and Dark: The Final Ads of the Iowa Campaign

Subzero temperatures and swirling snow squalls have hampered campaign events around Iowa this weekend, but Iowans are getting plenty of exposure to the Republican presidential candidates through a last-minute blitz of advertising before Monday’s caucuses.

The parting messages from the candidates — in their ads as in their speeches — have been notably negative, defensive and dark.

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, are locked in a battle for second place in Iowa, and their camps have unleashed fresh attacks on each other in the waning days of the race here. In a dynamic that mirrors the race overall, their ads have dealt only glancing blows to former President Donald J. Trump, while Mr. Trump’s final ad looks past his primary rivals and seeks to undermine President Biden.

A super PAC backing Ms. Haley put out a new ad on broadcast television stations Friday that depicts Mr. DeSantis as a “suck up” to Mr. Trump — featuring old photos of them together, along with clips from a 2018 DeSantis campaign ad in which Mr. DeSantis recites Mr. Trump’s slogans to his children. In the new ad, an unseen crowd chants, “Who’s your daddy?”

An ad from a super PAC supporting Mr. DeSantis picks up on remarks Ms. Haley made this month to a crowd in New Hampshire — where she has drawn strong support — saying voters there would “correct” the Iowa results in their primary on Jan. 23.