Oof. Team Nikki Is Lowering Expectations for New Hampshire.

After coming in third place in the Iowa caucuses, Nikki Haley needs a solid victory in New Hampshire. For weeks, Haley's top surrogate in the Granite State, Gov. Chris Sununu, has been predicting victory.

"If everyone that could vote in the primary comes out and votes, not only — she's going to win in a landslide," Sununu told ABC's Jonathan Karl back in December. "And that's not an exaggeration. So, you're going to see a record—"

"He’s setting a bar for you there," Karl said to Haley, who was also part of the interview. "An expectation."

"No, it’s not an expectation," Sununu insisted.

"He knows his state better than I do," Haley pointed out.

"It’s not an expectation," Sununa said again. "It's people getting excited."

"It's exciting. We can feel it on the ground. We're going to do this," Haley concluded.

A couple of weeks later, Sununu told CNN's Dana Bash that if Chris Christie dropped out — which he now has — then “Nikki Haley can make up five or 10 points and kind of give Trump that defeat that no one thought was possible in the next few weeks."

He added, "And I think that’s very likely to happen. So, again, I think the voters are going to come Nikki’s way."

What's he saying now? According to Rick Klein of ABC News, on Wednesday evening, Sununu gave a "serious downgrade of Haley expectations" in New Hampshire.

“We always wanted to have a strong second," Sununu reportedly said. "That's the only expectation we ever laid out there.”

Fox News called Sununu out for moving the goalposts.

"It was just a couple of days ago that you predicted victory here for Nikki Haley now, maybe second place is good enough," a reporter asked.

"Look, I think she could win. I'm not predicting anything. I think she can win," Sununu replied. "She's — we've already exceeded expectations in terms of a one-on-one race. You know, a strong second is going to be great. That's wonderful. But now that chance to actually do what no one thought was possible. It's gonna be hard. There's no question about it. I think she can do it. I think — I think there's going to be a very high voter turnout to drive that, but we'll see on Tuesday."

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So we've gone from Nikki Haley is going to win New Hampshire to she'll probably, maybe, hopefully, finish a close second.

Meanwhile, according to an NBC News report, it almost sounds like Haley's campaign has given up on New Hampshire because Haley is keeping a low profile before the primary. She ducked out of the final debates with Ron DeSantis, and her schedule has become Biden-esque at a time when she ought to have a packed schedule.

“As an incumbent, maybe, or somebody who’s a front-runner — sure, you’re ahead, you’re not taking any risks,” Dave Carney, a veteran New Hampshire-based Republican strategist, told NBC News. “But when you’re in second place? You need to throw f***ing Hail Marys. You have five nights left.”

Her decision not to debate DeSantis also appears to be backfiring.

“Everybody in New Hampshire is disappointed,” said Julianna Bergeron, a Republican National Committee member in New Hampshire.

“I can’t be positive,” Bergeron added, “but, yeah, I do think it matters.”

“She rose to prominence, and then they put her in a bubble,” said longtime New Hampshire GOP strategist Michael Biundo, who was a senior adviser to Ramaswamy. “She is behind. And to cancel on debates, and to treat New Hampshire like it’s not the first in the nation and it’s just one of the Super Tuesday states — which is what she’s treating it like — I think is a huge mistake. We have a different way of thinking here.”