How Nikki Haley's political fate hinges on Super Tuesday showdown

we're going to head to NBC News correspondent Ali Vitali who joins us now from Charleston in Haley's home state of South Carolina great to see you Ali so according to our NBC News state-by-state analysis of what's on tap for today Haley has little room to stop Trump what is the best case scenario for her today and could we ultimately see her suspending her campaign as early as tonight I love our team for crunching those numbers in large part because that's a lot of math that I now don't have to

do but the point that they come out with is the one that we've been following this whole time guys which is that Nikki Haley walks such a tight rope both electorally but then also in the delegate math even though there's 15 states on the table here the fact that Haley is unlikely to win in any of them is notable but it still means that voters and I are having conversations like this when I was in Texas just less than 12 or so hours ago watch let's say it is what everyone says it is and Trump swe

eps all these contests what what's your message to Nikki Haley when she wakes up on Wednesday morning well I think it it her message of no fear is very appropriate don't be afraid of the um those loud voices should she stay in even if he sweeps absolutely it ain't over till it's over and look we don't know what Nikki Haley is going to do next in my conversations with both the candidate and the campaign guys they've been clear that super Tuesday is an inflection point for them they're going to th

ink about what happens next but we don't know what that is it's so interesting Ally hearing that voter say look it's not over until it's over and you and I have been talking so frequently about how really a lot of these Independence are the backbone of her supporters but where could she perhaps pick up some Democrats tonight I mean which are some of the states that we should be watching that could sort of indicate whether or not Haley is in fact exceeding expectations yeah this is when the Haley

campaign talks about building a coalition that's not just your traditional Republican primary voter but someone who can play in these so-called open primaries it's fascinating because I was just texting with a top Virginia official who knows the state well who's saying hey friends of mine who are Democrats who aren't even overtly political not the kind of folks that would vote in a primary are texting me saying that they want to make sure that they get out to vote today for Nikki Haley just so

that they can try to put a stop to Donald Trump getting on the ballot again they know a long shot this person who texted me knows it's a long shot but it's a really big it's a really small anecdote of what we could be seeing on the ground and frankly those are the kind of anecdotes that Haley's going to need in States like maybe Vermont or Virginia if she has a hope of pulling out her best case scenario tonight and she said she's doubling down NBC News correspondent Ali Vitali also doubling down

for us this super Tuesday thanks so much Ally we appreciate it thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media