Nikki Haley's pitch to donors has everything but a plan to defeat Trump

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Nikki Haley has crisscrossed the country in the days leading up to Super Tuesday with a private pitch to donors about why they should keep giving her money. But according to six sources who have heard it, that plan has been missing a key element — a potential path to victory over former President Donald Trump.

While most candidates offer more candor behind the scenes with the donors funding their bids, Haley’s private message has largely matched her public one: She’s in it until Super Tuesday, and then her campaign will take it step by step.

Haley said Friday she plans to stay in the race for “as long as we’re competitive.”

“I don’t know that I’m ending my bid for president,” she said Friday to a small group of reporters here. “If you’re in the race, the last thing you think about is not being in the race.”

It’s similar to the message she’s brought to a 10-event fundraising swing that started on Feb. 25 in the key state of Michigan (which she lost to Trump) and has continued in near-identical fashion since.

Recent fundraising events, at times, have ranged from small gatherings of about 45 people to bigger meetings of around 100 guests. Donors and VIPs sometimes huddle with her before or after campaign stops, occasionally in the same place she holds her rallies. The fundraising tour is carrying into Saturday with stops in North Carolina and Massachusetts.

Each huddle, though, lacked details about how she plans to defeat Trump in the delegate count, according to six people familiar with the matter, some of whom declined to be named in order to speak freely.

Instead, according to one source who heard her donor pitch recently, it’s an ask to help her fund “the best operation” she can until Super