GOP presidential candidates trade attacks ahead of Wednesday debate

The campaigns for candidates challenging former President Donald Trump staked their claims as the sole viable alternative and traded attacks ahead of Wednesday's Republican presidential debate.

In memos this week, the campaigns for Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Tim Scott painted their candidate as the only one capable of posing a serious challenge to Trump.

Five candidates — DeSantis, Haley, Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — will meet in Miami on Wednesday for the third Republican National Committee debate, which will air on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.

Trump, who leads polling nationally and in Iowa, has not participated in the debates.

As the crowd of candidates thins and voting in the Iowa caucuses and other early states nears, the campaign memos reflect a shared opinion that Trump will run away with the nomination if his opposition does not consolidate around one candidate.

Trump leads the field in polling with 43 percent of support in the most recent Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll. DeSantis and Haley both tied for second place in that poll, with 16 percent of support, while the rest of the candidates registered single-digit support.

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DeSantis is heading into the debate after earning the endorsement of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is highly popular among Republicans and has publicly feuded with Trump over the last year.

In a memo, DeSantis’ campaign said he is the only candidate who can appeal to “both the Trump and non-Trump sides of the party.”

The campaign argued much of DeSantis’s support would move to Trump if he dropped out of the race, while supporters for Haley and others would shift to DeSantis if they were not in the running.

A large win for Trump in Iowa, the campaign argued, would set Trump up to barrel to victory in the rest of the primary. But if Trump loses or even comes close to losing, it would “reveal his political vulnerabilities” and could eat into some of his support nationally, the campaign said.

Nikki Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankeny in a memo pointed to the Iowa Poll that showed Haley tied with DeSantis as evidence of her rising support. Haley’s positions in New Hampshire and South Carolina, the next two early nominating states, give her a path to second place that DeSantis does not have, Ankeny wrote.

“EVEN IF DeSantis were to do well in Iowa, which is a big “if” given his current decline, he is in such a weak position in New Hampshire and South Carolina that it doesn’t matter. He has no end game,” Ankeny said.

In Scott’s campaign memo, campaign manager Jennifer DeCasper put forward Scott as the best of both worlds: A staunch conservative who can beat Biden in swing states in a general election.

Scott recently announced he would go “all in” on Iowa, hiring new staff in the Hawkeye State and ramping up his campaigning here.

Vivek Ramaswamy has also increased his efforts in Iowa, dropping a multimillion-dollar ad buy last week and renting an apartment in West Des Moines.

“Vivek is the only non-neocon on the stage Wednesday night — the only candidate who can (keep) us out of marching our way into World War III,” Ramaswamy spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said in an email.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum launched an ad in Iowa and New Hampshire attacking the Republican National Committee for setting polling requirements that kept him out of this month’s debate.

Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, and Texas Pastor Ryan Binkley did not meet the requirements to be on the debate stage.