Global Courant 2023-05-26 00:33:13
CONCORD, NH –
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis on Thursday tried to break an embarrassing start to his presidential campaign by crafting an aggressive travel schedule as his allies insisted they remain well-funded and well-positioned for a long Republican primary fight ahead.
While DeSantis supporters privately acknowledged that the botched announcement was an unwanted distraction, there was a widespread feeling — even among some Republican critics — that it was likely to have limited long-term political ramifications, if any.
“Would they wish they could do it again? Probably,” said David Oman, who ran two leading presidential campaigns in Iowa. “Shall we talk about it in 10 days? Probably not.”
DeSantis formally launched his campaign Wednesday evening during an online conversation with Twitter CEO Elon Musk. But the audio stream crashed repeatedly, making it difficult for most users to hear the announcement in real time.
On Thursday, the Republican governor announced plans for a three-state blitz next week with at least a dozen stops. He is scheduled to campaign in Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday, before traveling to New Hampshire on Thursday and South Carolina on Friday.
“We are focused on getting Governor DeSantis’ forward-thinking message for America’s recovery to every potential voter in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina,” campaign manager Generra Peck said. “Our campaign is determined to make time to win these early candidate states. No one will work harder than Governor DeSantis to share his vision with the country – he’s only just begun the fight.”
DeSantis casts himself as the only legitimate Republican rival in former President Donald Trump’s GOP primary, holding a large lead in early polls along with a firm grip on a significant portion of the GOP’s passionate base.
Yet Trump is plagued by his own baggage, including multiple legal threats and a fixation on his 2020 election loss.
Meanwhile, DeSantis’ team opens the campaign with tens of millions of dollars in the bank. A spokesperson said the campaign raised $1 million in the first hour after Wednesday’s announcement, but declined to provide an updated total amount on Thursday. An adviser to DeSantis’ allied super-PAC said there are 30 full-time paid employees in the first four states on the presidential primary calendar, with many more appointments planned for the next 14 states to hold primaries.
No other Republican presidential candidate has such an infrastructure, including Trump. His aides declined to say how many staff he has in early states. “The only numbers we’re talking about are the massive clues President Trump is gathering in the early states,” spokesman Steven Cheung said.
But as DeSantis tried to exude confidence Thursday, the two-year governor faced nagging questions about his rocky rollout during a conservative media tour.
“I was just sort of in Tallahassee, like I didn’t really know what was going on because Twitter handles all that,” DeSantis told conservative commentator Glenn Beck. “They just got so many people, more than they ever got, that I think it kind of melted the servers.”
As Trump’s team continued to gleefully mock — “a .DeSaster of epic proportions,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote. on Truth Social — many Republican officials, donors, and early state activists suggested there would be little long-term impact.
“Look, I like Elon Musk, but apparently he fired one too many IT guys,” said New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, himself a 2024 Republican presidential nominee and periodic DeSantis critic, on ABC’s “The View.” “You can’t blame Ron DeSantis for that.”
“I mean, if Elon Musk told me, ‘We’re going to stream it,’ I’d say, ‘Yeah, this guy knows what he’s doing.’ It didn’t work,” added Sununu. “Ron’s job was to deliver the speech and get the points out. I think he did that pretty well.”
Republican strategist Terry Sullivan, who led Senator Marco Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign, suggested DeSantis is well positioned to overcome an early stumbling block.
“Major presidential campaign announcements are just about getting a short-term boost (in the polls) and raising money online,” Sullivan said. “DeSantis doesn’t need either. He just had to get in the race and campaign. Mission accomplished.”
Former New Hampshire GOP Chair Jennifer Horn described DeSantis’ rollout as an “embarrassing missed opportunity.” The only potential longer-term challenge, she said, was that it serves as “a gift to Donald Trump,” which will almost certainly ensure it is not soon forgotten.
But in the states that matter most in the battle for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, New Hampshire Republican Party chairman Chris Ager said “a strong interest” in DeSantis remained. He said multiple Republican Party groups are requesting DeSantis to speak at their events.
“I think it was a pretty bold move to try something completely new in an announcement,” Ager said.
And while early polls show Trump well ahead of DeSantis among New Hampshire primary voters, Ager said a lot could change over time.
“I fully expect the race to tighten up,” he said. “Gov. DeSantis is definitely a serious and legitimate contender for first place.”
Republican donor and vocal Trump critic Eric Levine said there was little chatter in the donor community about DeSantis’ stumbling out of the gate. He said Florida governor remains one of his top three candidates.
“No one is leaving him because of that. Whether he’s lost a few people who might have jumped on the bandwagon if things had been better, I don’t know,” Levine said. “Now, it’s a marathon from now to Iowa.”
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Nations reported from New York. Izaguirre reported from Tallahassee, Florida. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
