New Hampshire Primary Live: Donald Trump and Nikki Haley face off

New Hampshire was Nikki Haley’s best shot to disrupt Donald Trump's steady march toward the Republican presidential nomination. She came up short, even if she appears to have avoided a predicted Trump blowout.

Haley spent tens of millions of dollars here, but the state’s independent voters and large proportion of college graduates weren’t enough to deliver victory.

In a speech to supporters on Tuesday night, Haley said that the race “is far from over”, pointing to the primary in her home state of South Carolina a month away. To get there, however, she’ll need campaign contributions to keep flowing. Despite a better-than-expected finish, that is no guarantee, given that her long odds of winning the nomination just got longer.

If she does stay afloat, she may not get a particularly warm homecoming. Trump has the endorsement of most of South Carolina’s Republican establishment, and he has a commanding lead in the polls.

A drubbing on her old stomping grounds would be an ignominious way to end what has been as relatively successful campaign –a fate she may ultimately choose to avoid. But she has a month to try to turn that around.