By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON (AA) - Ex-US President Donald Trump and Republican primary challenger Nikki Haley are locked in a fierce war of words ahead of next week's New Hampshire primary.
While Trump remains well ahead in New Hampshire, his margin is narrower there than in any state with a looming primary contest. A compilation of polling from the RealClearPolitics website has Trump leading Haley by just 13 points.
Trump is slated to depart for the northeastern American state on Friday ahead of Tuesday's contest. He has for days put Haley in his crosshairs, employing conspiracy theories and regailing her Indian American heritage, and claiming that she is a Democrat-backed stalking horse.
"The radical left Democrats are supporting Nikki Haley because they know she is much easier to beat," he said during a rally this week in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Haley, who served as Trump's ambassador to the UN, has recently sought to go on the offensive after finishing third in the Iowa Republican caucus, taking aim at Trump's age, which if he is elected president, would put him at 78 when he would return to the White House.
"The majority of Americans think that having two 80-year-olds running for president is not what they want," Haley said while campaigning in New Hampshire Tuesday, referring to Trump and President Joe Biden, according to the Washington Post newspaper.
Haley said during a Tuesday that Trump's reference to her as "Nikki ‘Nimrada’ Haley," a possible play on the word "nimrod," are the result of his insecurities.
Nikki Haley, whose first name is Nimrata, not Nimrada, is the daughter of Indian American immigrants, and goes by her middle name. She took her husband's surname when they married.
"I know President Trump well. That’s what he does when he feels threatened, that’s what he does when he feels insecure," Haley said during a CNN town hall. "I know that I am a threat. I know that’s why he’s doing that."