Nikki Haley’s home state comeback didn’t materialise. Now what?

It all came down to this: Nikki Haley had her shot tonight to prove this is still a contest. She failed.

South Carolina voted today. It’s the fifth Republican primary or caucus, after three previous states and the US Virgin Islands were all won by her opponent, frontrunner Donald Trump. But now, the race turns to Ms Haley’s backyard.

In any other contest, a popular two-term governor and former UN ambassador would be presumed to take her home state. Instead, Ms Haley heads into her Charleston election night watch party down 30 points in all available polling and still struggling to make inroads with the conservative Republican base which is firmly backing Mr Trump.

Ms Haley needed a miracle tonight. Her campaign is staring at Super Tuesday down in the polls in every state. She appears to have the fundraising momentum of a candidate with the wind at her back, but is not yet showing any signs of pulling off a victory in any individual state.

To put that in perspective: Donald Trump has won every state so far. He is slated to win every state going forward. In 2016, he lost several states, including Texas, which threw its substantial delegate count behind Ted Cruz instead.

And he still won.

South Carolina was far from the last presidential nominating contest, and Nikki Haley has made it clear: She’s not dropping out until after Super Tuesday at the very least.

But she needed to show signs of life tonight. The 15-to-20-point margin of defeat in her home state will undermine her own electability arguments while simultaneously making it harder for her to keep moving forward. Donors like winners. They don’t particularly enjoy backing candidates who do not have a path to the nomination.

Ms Haley needed to prove that this is a real