Sununu lowers expectations for Haley in Tuesday's New Hampshire GOP primary

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu this week lowered expectations for Republican Nikki Haley's performance in the Granite State, telling ABC «Nightline» co-anchor Byron Pitts that her campaign «always wanted to have a strong second» place in the state's GOP primary on Tuesday.

«That's the only expectation we ever laid out there. Now to the fact that she's challenging him to actually win the state, something no one in the media ever thought was possible, that gets everybody really excited,» he said on Wednesday. «I mean, that's a pretty big hill to climb, to be sure, but it can be done.»

But speaking with ABC «This Week» co-anchor Jonathan Karl in December, just after endorsing Haley, Sununu said that the Granite State was «an absolute win» for the former U.N. ambassador.

«It's a win and a reset button,» he added, predicting she would secure the vote in a «landslide» victory, prompting Karl to interject.

«He's setting a bar for you there, an expectation,» Karl said to Haley.

«He knows his state better than I do,» Haley responded, pointing to Sununu.

Pressed on Thursday by ABC News' Rachel Scott about which one it was — would Haley win in a landslide or would she be a «strong second» in the state — Sununu said it was «all about getting the vote out.»

«So, if everyone that can possibly vote comes out, that would be tremendous, and I have no doubt that we could get a victory here, but the expectation was we want a strong second place, we've got that. We've already exceeded those expectations,» he told Scott after Haley's Thursday town hall in Hollis, New Hampshire.

«My plan is that we wanted to be strong in Iowa, we did that. We want to be stronger in New Hampshire, we're going to do that. We want to go to my