$12 million more helps Haley in longshot bid against Trump for the White House : NPR

Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event Thursday in Falls Church, Va.

Alex Brandon/AP

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Alex Brandon/AP

Republican presidential candidate and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event Thursday in Falls Church, Va.

Alex Brandon/AP

Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley says her campaign raised $12 million last month, and she continues to pour funds into campaigning ahead of Super Tuesday next week.

The former South Carolina governor has yet to win a single nominating contest.

But Haley says she has stayed in the primary race, in part, because large and small donors have encouraged her to.

“They don’t ask me ‘What’s your strategy?’ “They don’t ask me ‘What’s your plan?'” Haley said in a conversation with reporters Friday morning. “All they say is ‘Thank you for giving me hope.'”

“We’ve had fundraisers in every place I’ve been. No one has said what y’all ask, which is ‘How long are you staying in?’ No one,” she emphasized.

Haley also provided more insight into how the campaign is spending those dollars.

“The accountant in me stretches and stretches and stretches those dollars,” she said, explaining that the key to her strategy is to treat each dollar like it’s her own.

Plus: “We’re a lean mean operation. We don’t have a ton of staff.”

The $12 million Haley brought in last month is a dip from $16 million in January, which was her largest fundraising month so far. Haley told reporters she is continuing to raise money.