Haley aims to defy history in South Carolina

+ a new approach to avoiding gerrymandering US Edition - Today's top story: Nikki Haley insists she can lose South Carolina and still get the nomination -- but that would defy history [View in browser]( US Edition | 22 February 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( We want to give our readers stories during the 2024 election campaign season that focus on the stakes of the election and not the horse race, and that explain crucial concepts and history behind how elections and democracy work – or don’t work. We’ll be bringing you stories by a range of scholars, of course, from historians to demographers, legal experts and political scientists. Among them: Charlie Hunt, an expert on Congress, elections and political representation, at Boise State University. Hunt is writing a series of articles for us, [accompanied by videos](, that step back from the daily headlines and aim to help readers understand everything from the “largely unquestioned influence” of Iowa and New Hampshire on the race for president to this week’s dispatch, which looks at the idea of politicians’ home-field advantage and how that could help Nikki Haley in the upcoming South Carolina primary on Feb. 24. Haley is banking on a good showing in her home state. But polls put her behind Trump. Hunt says a review of historical data shows “[in the history of the modern presidential primary](, since 1972, there has not been a single eventual nominee from either party who did not win their home state.” “In this sense,” Hunt says, “Haley winning the nomination without her home state would be literally unprecedented.” Stay tuned for more of Charlie Hunt when he tackles questions like “Could a third-party candidate really win the presidency?” and “Do lobbyist donations change votes in Congress?” And I moderated a fascinating online discussion yesterday with Charlie and Prof. Stefanie Lindquist. You can [watch it on YouTube]( if you missed it. Naomi Schalit Senior Editor, Politics + Democracy Nikki Haley greets supporters at a campaign stop in Aiken, S.C., on Feb. 5, 2024. Allison Joyce /AFP via Getty Images [Nikki Haley insists she can lose South Carolina and still get the nomination – but that would defy history]( Charlie Hunt, Boise State University A presidential candidate’s ‘home state advantage’ should help them win a primary, which then bodes well for how they do in successive contests. But if they lose their home state, they’re in trouble. Unchecked, politicians are likely to try to grab as much electoral power as they can. Fabrice LEROUGE/ONOKY via Getty Images [How politicians can draw fairer election districts − the same way parents make kids fairly split a piece of cake]( Benjamin Schneer, Harvard Kennedy School; Kevin DeLuca, Yale University; Maxwell Palmer, Boston University Electoral redistricting is a high-stakes political game, so Democrats and Republicans have a hard time playing fair. When they’re made to work together, a more representative result is possible. 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Socolow, University of Maine Tucker Carlson’s sycophantic interview with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, and his subsequent praise for Russia’s subways, supermarkets and cheeseburgers, was not journalism. It was propaganda. [Wealthier, urban Americans have access to more local news – while roughly half of US counties have only one outlet or less]( Sarah Stonbely, Northwestern University The number of nonprofit news outlets is holding steady as they go out of business just as fast as they are founded. 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