Ramaswamy insists he’s still in the game as he fails to qualify for last debate

Predictions of the end of Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign for the presidential nomination are premature, a senior aide insisted, as the biotech entrepreneur who enjoyed early success with a brash and aggressive campaign contemplated a final Iowa debate taking place on Wednesday night without him.

Tricia McLaughlin, Ramaswamy’s senior adviser and communications director, said: “The energy we’re seeing on the ground in Iowa is electric, and that level of turnout and excitement is far surpassing the cratering DeSantis and astroturfed Haley campaigns.”

Nonetheless, only Ron DeSantis, the hard-right governor of Florida, and Nikki Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, will take the stage at Drake University in Des Moines for a debate sponsored by CNN. The Iowa caucuses will take place on Monday.

Donald Trump also qualified for the debate but as with all other such events in this campaign, he has chosen to skip the contest.

Like Chris Christie of New Jersey and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, two more former governors still in the race, Ramaswamy did not meet qualifying criteria for the CNN debate, based on polling results.

That threshold was “at least 10% in three separate national and/or Iowa polls of Republican caucus-goers or primary voters that meet CNN’s standards for reporting”, while “one of the three polls must be an approved CNN poll of likely Iowa Republican caucus-goers”.

According to the FiveThirtyEight.com polling average for the Iowa Republican race, less than a week from caucus day Trump is at 51% support, DeSantis 17%, Haley 16% and Ramaswamy 7%.

McLaughlin said: “The mainstream media may be quick to write our obituary but that’s because they’re oblivious to the facts on the ground. We’re going to finish in the top