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With Ron DeSantis suspending his presidential campaign on Sunday, Nikki Haley gets the one-on-one match-up with Donald Trump for which she's been longing.

"At one point in this campaign, there were 14 of us running," she says in an email fundraising pitch, sent out shortly after the DeSantis news broke.

"But today, it's officially a two-person race between me and Donald Trump!"

Ms Haley's showdown with Mr Trump in the state-by-state contest to choose a Republican presidential candidate may not turn out exactly as she hoped, however. The way the 14-person field has thinned of late has played out mostly to the former president's advantage.

First, Mr DeSantis edged ahead of Ms Haley for second place in Iowa's caucuses, denying her any substantial momentum boost heading into New Hampshire, which votes on Tuesday.