DES MOINES, United States, Jan 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis locked horns Wednesday in the final debate before voting begins in the US Republican presidential nominating contest, seeking to pitch themselves as the best alternative to runaway front-runner Donald Trump.

The head-to-head showdown comes five days before the pivotal Iowa caucuses, considered crucial for winnowing the field and giving those left standing a springboard for the rest of the race.

Trump has a commanding lead despite the multiple legal challenges he faces, but has skipped the televised debates, concluding he has nothing to gain by taking prime-time hits from lower-polling rivals.

None of the other challengers met the qualification standards, leaving the stage for former UN ambassador Haley and Florida governor DeSantis to vie one-on-one for the Hawkeye State's undecided voters.

The pair traded blows ahead of the confrontation, with Haley accusing DeSantis of lying about her record and the governor countering that she had repeatedly been dishonest about previous statements.

According to the RealClearPolitics polling average, Trump leads the field in Iowa at 52.3 percent, with Haley and DeSantis in a margin-of-error tussle at 16.3 and 16 percent respectively.

The national picture is similar, although Trump's lead is even larger -- a daunting 51.5 percentage points.

Much of the campaign activity in Iowa has been overshadowed in the final week by the legal woes facing Trump, who has sought to use the precincts of courthouses across the country to dominate TV coverage and rally support.

He ducked out of campaigning Tuesday for a hearing in Washington, where he faces charges over an alleged conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. Trump is also due back in court Thursday for his civil fraud case in New York.

- Lost ground -

DeSantis was praised for his strongest performance in the fourth debate in Alabama last month, but his campaign has never lived up to the initial hype.

The conservative hard-liner is seeking to regain ground lost to Haley and his path to the nomination depends on a strong showing in Iowa.
Haley is looking to outperform expectations in the Midwestern state and ride into a one-on-one match-up with Trump in her preferred battleground of New Hampshire, a northeastern state where independents are allowed to vote in primaries and could give her campaign a significant boost.

Her campaign received a shot in the arm hours ahead of the debate when former New Jersey governor Chris Christie -- by far Trump's most vocal critic, who was running third in New Hampshire -- dropped out of the race.

"I would rather lose by telling the truth, than lie in order to win," Christie, a former Trump aide, told supporters at an event in Windham, New Hampshire.

"And I feel no differently today because this is a fight for the soul of our party and the soul of our country."

He didn't offer an endorsement, but vowed never to support the former president again, saying he got into the race to "tell the truth about his divisiveness, his stoking of anger for his own benefit, in putting himself before the people of this country."

On a hot mic prior to his announcement, Christie was caught remarking that Haley was going to get "smoked" by Trump in Iowa and was "not up for this."

Trump, who often arranges "counterprogramming" to draw attention away from the debates, was taking part in a Fox News town hall event elsewhere in Des Moines, his first live appearance on the network in two years.