Ten minutes before Vivek Ramaswamy was to take the stage in a dated casino hotel in western Iowa, no one was in the conference room except for two staffers from the Iowa GOP, which organized the event, and a group of journalists. Guests started trickling in at the time the event was scheduled. By the time Ramaswamy began his remarks an hour later, there were about 60 people. While Ramaswamy is packing his schedule with stops across Iowa, including four events on Tuesday, he has failed to move up in the 2024 Republican primary race and is increasingly at risk of becoming an afterthought. He is polling in the mid to high single digits and has left critics asking what his endgame is or if he is staying in the race only to boost former President Donald Trump. Ramaswamy is falling behind just as the GOP campaign enters the critical final weeks before the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. After an earlier flurry of attention, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and first-time political candidate is gaining more notice for his provocations in debates than for signs that his campaign is resonating with voters. “If viability were the reason to stay in a race, he’s long since left that behind,” said David Kochel, a Republican strategist who advised Jeb Bush in his 2016 presidential bid. “If you like Vivek Ramaswamy and what he is saying in this campaign, you already have a candidate, and his name is Donald Trump.” Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are increasingly going after each other as they vie for a distant second place, competing for donors and voters open to a Trump alternative. Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott dropped out after running Iowa-focused campaigns that didn’t gain traction. Ramaswamy’s campaign said in early November that it would spend up to $8 million in advertising through the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15. So far, the campaign has booked just $162,000 in broadcast and digital ads for the rest of the Iowa campaign, according to data from the media tracking firm AdImpact. Haley and her allied super PAC have reserved nearly $3.5 million over that same period, while DeSantis and his allied super PAC have booked more than $3.3 million. Tricia McLaughlin, Ramaswamy’s campaign spokeswoman, said that events hosted by the campaign are drawing more people lately, noting that a sizable number of eventgoers are not registered as Republicans. “We are reaching young people,” she said. “These people are taking the time and effort to come out. These people are not even being polled because they are not your typical caucusgoer.” Ramaswamy has suggested policy ideas that he says carry on Trump’s “America First” legacy without the former president’s baggage. At a Florida GOP event earlier this month, Ramaswamy arguably drew the most cheers when his pitch was that he was the Republican candidate who had been most supportive of Trump. “I have respected Donald Trump more than anybody else in this race because he was the best president of the 21st century,” Ramaswamy said. “I said that before, and I will say it again because it’s the right thing to do. We will honor that legacy.” Trump remains dominant, even as he faces four criminal indictments […]