Nikki Haley...HUM???

Haley, the former UN ambassador and governor of South Carolina, has held dozens of town hall events throughout New Hampshire since February, and she was already campaigning in the Granite State more than a year ago — not for her own candidacy, but for Don Bolduc’s unsuccessful Senate bid.

Haley’s involvement in the 2022 race wasn’t exactly unique. Politically ambitious leaders have been known to seek off-year in-roads by appearing alongside state and local candidates, the idea being that those connections will survive from one electoral cycle to the next. In this case, Bolduc went on to stump for Haley just as she had stumped for him.

Republican businessman Vikram Mansharamani, who lost to Bolduc in the Senate primary, said Haley’s 2022 visits to the state gave him a chance to get to know her. Now he’s co-chairing her New Hampshire campaign and praising her focus on in-person events.

“Town halls, house parties, shaking hands, diners, you name it: Nikki’s been up here just working her tail off. And I think the governor appreciates that,” Mansharamani said Tuesday, referring to Sununu. “I know a lot of us do.”

Thomas D. Rath, a former New Hampshire attorney general who has advised several GOP presidential candidates over the years, including Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, said Sununu’s endorsement could add a booster pack to Haley’s ground game.

”My guess is he will travel the state with her and for her,” Rath said. “He knows everybody. He’s been elected four times. … He won’t just endorse, he’ll embrace. And I think that that’s going to be very helpful to her.”

While politically engaged voters in New Hampshire tend to view free-flowing town hall Q&As and a few good handshakes as indispensable components of each candidate’s presidential vetting process, such idyllic notions of retail politics are arguably in decline, as the electoral process has become increasingly national in focus over the years.

Even so, Haley isn’t the only GOP presidential candidate signaling their investment in New Hampshire’s century-old electoral traditions, and she’s certainly not the only candidate who craved Sununu’s boosterism.

For weeks, Sununu has been saying he would endorse either Haley, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, or former governor Chris Christie of New Jersey as the candidate with the best shot to overtake the GOP front-runner, former president Donald J. Trump.

New Hampshire House majority leader Jason Osborne, a prominent DeSantis supporter, said Sununu’s decision to endorse Haley is “a real missed opportunity.” DeSantis and Sununu “would have made a great team,” he said.

“I expect that the DeSantis campaign will continue focusing on a big showing in Iowa and then roll that into momentum for New Hampshire, where the voters will make their own decisions on Jan. 23,” Osborne added.

DeSantis will be back in New Hampshire on Friday, with events in Concord and Windham.

Christie’s team, too, brushed off news of Sununu’s endorsement and said Christie will keep telling “the unvarnished truth” about Trump, with a town hall Wednesday in Londonderry.

Christie campaign spokesperson Karl Rickett said Sununu’s endorsement “puts us down one vote in New Hampshire.”— Steven

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From the scene: As she entered the town hall on Tuesday, Haley embraced fans and then Sununu, to cheers from a crowd bearing red and navy campaign hats, buttons, and signs. “Did they come for you or did they come for me?” she joked.

This story first appeared in Globe NH | Morning Report, our free newsletter focused on the news you need to know about New Hampshire, including great coverage from the Boston Globe and links to interesting articles from other places. If you’d like to receive it via e-mail Monday through Friday, you can sign up here.