Haley’s first GOP debate performance got her lots of attention for all the right reasons, while fellow South Carolinian Scott’s debate performance did not.

Some see tonight as a continuation of those trend lines.

“She kills it tonight,” said a former Donald Trump staffer not affiliated with any of the campaigns. “It becomes a two-person race. Money starts to consolidate, donor pressure on others to get out, media focus.”

“One could argue her last debate performance put her into second place in the early primary states,” the person added.

Meanwhile, Republicans do not see Scott turning around his fortunes tonight.

“How bad does Tim Scott do?” a veteran Republican operative said when asked what they will be watching for tonight. “Most senators thought he had the worst debate performance last time.”

“A couple senators think he should fire his team,” the person added.

The debate begins at 9 p.m. ET. The two-hour debate will air on Fox News Channel and Fox Business.

Ramaswamy's campaign predicted that he might be caught in the debate crossfires again tonight but said he is still focusing on growing name recognition.

“To be frank, I think we were a little surprised last time for how many of the candidates last time came gunning for Vivek," said Tricia McLaughlin, senior adviser and communications director. "We thought his biggest vulnerability was being irrelevant on the debate stage, and that certainly wasn’t the case — he was the focal point of much of the debate.

"I think Vivek is a fighter at heart, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it got a little sporty again, but our real goal is for him to introduce himself to the American people," she said. "Still, one-third of Americans don’t know who he is (much less how to pronounce his name). It’s Vivek’s job to share with the American people who he is, what he stands and his vision to revive our country.” 

Ramaswamy has been off the campaign trail since Friday, with the campaign indicating that he needed time off from events for debate preparation.

Haley’s campaign says it expects she will have a target on her back tonight — highlighting what it sees as her growing momentum and signaling that she expects to be attacked.

The way the campaign sees it, Haley went toe to toe with China at the U.N., so she can more than handle the guys on the debate stage — and it welcomes the fact that she is now recognized as a threat.  

Significantly, the campaign still very much sees this debate as a good opportunity to introduce Haley to voters and increase her name recognition, encouraged by the bump in polling since the last debate.

Trump has declined to attend the first two debates, citing a lack of need because he's the clear front-runner in the polls. But what he's doing instead has gotten a lot of attention.

The first Republican primary debate was held the week Trump was expected to surrender to Fulton County, Georgia, officials after he was charged with racketeering in relation to efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

This time, Trump doesn't have to worry about fitting a fingerprinting into his schedule.

He's headed to Michigan tonight to give a speech before autoworkers who are striking there.

DETROIT — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson missed out on tonight's GOP debate, but he's trying to goad Trump into an attention-grabbing conflict, hosting a news conference at an airport hotel this morning and calling on the former president to debate him.

Hutchinson said Trump is in Michigan to avoid the debate stage, as the former president prepares to deliver evening remarks to a crowd expected to include United Auto Workers members and nonunion workers at Drake Enterprises, a nonunionized auto parts plant.

“I’m here in Detroit because I want to debate. Donald Trump is here in Detroit tonight, because he wants to avoid a debate,” Hutchinson said. “And I would love to have the opportunity to debate Donald Trump on his policies, on his support of workers, and bringing back manufacturing in United States.”

Hutchinson claimed to be the most pro-union GOP candidate in the presidential race and said that Trump has misled autoworkers and bankers in New York, referencing a New York judge’s ruling yesterday that Trump committed fraud and lied about his net worth.

Scott is beloved by congressional colleagues, complimented by voters who see him as “really nice,” and even praised by his rivals — including barb-trader-in-chief Donald Trump.

But being Mr. Nice Guy might be one reason why Scott struggled to break through at last month’s GOP presidential debate. And tonight’s second debate is going to be another test of Scott’s bet that the nice guy won’t finish last — a bet he’s answering for on the campaign trail, too.

At recent town halls across Iowa, one voter asked Scott, “What makes you think you’re not too nice to do the job that needs to be done?” Another questioned if Russian President Vladimir Putin “would be afraid of you? Because you seem like a really nice guy.”

Read the full story here.

Seven Republican presidential candidates not named Donald Trump will gather this evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, California, for the second GOP presidential primary debate — a contest that, much like the first one last month, has the feel of a fight for second place.

Scheduled to participate are: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Even without the presence of Trump, the far-and-away front-runner, the event holds significant stakes for each of the contenders onstage and has the potential to add new clarity about where the GOP is headed as the 2024 election nears.

Read the full story here.