A.G. Gancarski
The Ron DeSantis presidential campaign is laser focused on Thursday night’s tangle with Gavin Newsom.
But the open question now is whether it helps him, and if so, how much? It’s a valid question, given the Florida’ Governor’s flagging fortunes in polls, including in the Golden State, where 169 delegates will go the way of Donald Trump if those surveys hold up.
Not that DeSantis or his adjuncts are even bringing that up, of course.
“The next debate will be the biggest one yet,” said Campaign Manager James Uthmeier earlier this month, seemingly teasing the Nov. 30 face-off on Fox News over the officially sanctioned Republican National Committee events.
“As Democrats ramp up their efforts to replace the historically unpopular and failed Joe Biden as their nominee, Ron DeSantis’ showdown with Gavin Newsom is even more timely. A Newsom presidency would accelerate America’s decline, and November 30th will be the first chance to expose to a national audience just how dangerous his radical ideology would be for the country. Ron DeSantis will take this responsibility seriously and looks forward to sharing the stark contrast between his vision to revive our nation and Newsom’s blueprint for failure,” Uthmeier added.
DeSantis, frustrated in his attempts to draw Trump into a debate, also said the debate Thursday night was intended to draw eyeballs.
“This whole business is you’ve got to get attention, you’ve got to get on voters’ minds,” the Governor explained on the PBT Podcast.
DeSantis said he’s been obscured since even before he formally launched by earned media going toward the former President and his myriad legal imbroglios, claiming that for “most of the past six months, it’s been mostly focusing on everything that’s happening legally with the former President.”
DeSantis accepted the invitation to debate over the summer, after goading from Newsom.
“Absolutely, I’m game. Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where, we’ll do it,” DeSantis told Sean Hannity in August.
Newsom previously claimed he would do a three-hour debate with DeSantis on “one day’s notice with no notes.”
Logistics took some time to work out, however, but the two camps settled on Alpharetta, Georgia on Thursday.
However, despite the Florida Governor being well-positioned to take right-of-center arguments to Newsom, whose state DeSantis describes as a “petri dish” of left-wing experimentation, polling of California Republicans suggests DeSantis isn’t remotely competitive with Trump.
A recent Emerson College Poll shows Trump at 63% support, 52 points ahead of DeSantis and 13 points past the majority he would need to sweep the state’s 169 delegates to next year’s Republican National Convention.
Emerson’s poll of 331 Republican voters in California, conducted Nov. 11-14, tracks with other surveys showing DeSantis getting drubbed by Trump. DeSantis had 12% support in the most recent University of California Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies survey. He had the same level of support in the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll.
The Governor was in California earlier this fall for a presidential debate, where he also made some other news, including being condemned by the Salinas City Council ahead of a fundraising event in the city.
On a trip to the Port of Long Beach, DeSantis was flanked by truck drivers as he vowed to “take action” against California’s “electric mandates for big rigs.”
DeSantis has also used California as a public safety punching bag on the trail, both in the state and outside of it.
“When people are telling me that when they go shopping, they take off their jewelry because they don’t want to get mugged, even in nice places in L.A., that’s a huge, huge problem,” DeSantis said in Long Beach.
“I was just in San Francisco. I saw — in 20 minutes on the ground — people defecating on the sidewalk. I saw people using fentanyl. I saw people smoking crack right there in the open, right there on the street. It was a civilization in decay,” the Governor said at a Faith & Freedom Coalition event in June.
The Governor also appeared on Bill Maher’s HBO program, an appearance more notable for what the longtime comedian and talk show host said than anything else.
“If your campaign was going well, you wouldn’t be on this show,” Maher quipped, a seeming reference to the Governor’s penchant for friendly interviewers in recent years, a group that includes Hannity.
It’s an open question as to whether DeSantis would be debating Newsom if he were the front-runner in the race and not battling for second place with former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.
But a recurrent irony is that people betting on the presidential race rate Newsom, who isn’t even running, as a more viable candidate than the Florida Governor who has spent much of this year auditioning for another job.
Per the Election Betting Odds website, Newsom has a 10.1% chance of winning in 2024, more than four times DeSantis’ 2.2%.
20 comments
Michael K
November 27, 2023 at 12:54 pm
California rejected conservative, reactionary Orange County radical far-right Republicans years ago. Intolerance and ignorance do not create a thriving environment for innovation, economic prosperity, and creativity. Newsom is better looking and more intelligent, and California voters overwhelmingly said “No” to a recall effort mounted against him.
The late-night talk show hosts will have a field day with this one.
Impeach Biden
November 27, 2023 at 12:58 pm
Californian’s and companies are fleeing. For the first time in history Kalifornia losses a congressional seat. People and companies are fed up with high taxes, high crime, an uncontrolled border. Check the price of a gallon of gas In Kalifornia.
Joe G
November 28, 2023 at 3:12 pm
I grew up in NYC until I was 14, spent the next 16 years in Florida, and now have lived in CA for 23 years and travel extensively through the U.S. CA is by far the best state in the nation no questions asked. No state is perfect, but CA is not one of the largest economies in the world for no reason, most cities are low crime, just look up facts and stats not the Fox news. Reality is reality, if it wasn’t for tourism and South Florida, there wouldn’t be much else. Sorry for being real….
Dont Say FLA
November 27, 2023 at 12:57 pm
Yes, absolutely, and every single time. They should debate weekly so Rhonda Dee Santis can gobble up all the votes like the hungry hungry hippo Casey is.
tom palmer
November 27, 2023 at 1:44 pm
I guess it will depend on how well DeSantis is able to perform in anything other than canned events.
btw, Impeach Biden anonymous troll, the reason gas prices are higher in California is to control air pollution, since being the most populated states means the most vehicle tailpipes.
Impeach Biden
November 27, 2023 at 2:11 pm
So Tom Palmer how are those electric cars charged? Is it magic or fossil fuels? Kalifornia has very high energy prices because the state needs every nickel of revenue it can get for public pensions and social programs. Another question. Shouldn’t Kalifornia ban air travel then if it is the most populous state in the country? What a liberal zombie you are.
Tom
November 27, 2023 at 2:52 pm
Actually, they lead the country in renewable power generation and the most EV’s per capita in the US while rhonda wants to basically reverse the policies toward renewables based on a speech he made standing on an oil rig in September. I’d be interested in seeing how that played out on a debate stage. My guess is he’d probably lose on that point.
Natural gas (47%)
Renewables – Solar (14%)
Renewables – Wind (7%)
Renewables – Other (Geothermal, biomass, etc.) (11%)
Large hydro (11%)
Nuclear (9%)
Michael K
November 27, 2023 at 3:02 pm
If Ron is so hung-ho on oil, let’s drill in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic. In fact, let’s move Ron next door to a refinery where he can breathe it all in.
MH/Duuuval
November 30, 2023 at 10:09 pm
It’s no secrete that refineries are only allowed near poor or working-class neighborhoods.
taxedtodeath
November 27, 2023 at 3:11 pm
am I the only one who remembers Newsom asking you not to charge them EV’s because the grid couldn’t handle the drain?
so its great you have the most of them per capita, you also have the most homeless per capita, the most incarcerated per capita, the most drug addiction per capita
as you pointed out, you have the largest population which means you have the largest problems as well.
Kali has long benefited from a unique economy with Hollywood supporting in taxes much of your states “surplus” that has evaporated in the last decade as Hollywood has fled to states like Georgia with a much friendlier tax law and easier regulations on minimum pay for staffing.
This is not a red vs blue issue, this is a fundamental shift in the American economy and way of life coming soon to a homeless camp near you.
and for the record, I do not support Biden or Trump or DeSantis I am firmly in the camp of WTF happened?
Tom
November 28, 2023 at 7:40 am
I’m in the WTF happened camp myself. We have the third most homeless after Cali and NY and where I live it’s getting worse by the week but with the poor levels of education, the crap wages and net positive migration driving housing and food prices through the roof, it’s unlikely to change any time soon.
Ocean Joe
November 27, 2023 at 6:27 pm
The debate is a speed bump on Ronnie’s path to obscurity.
Impeach Biden
November 27, 2023 at 7:32 pm
What about Newsom? DeSantis has done a far better job as Governor compared to “Shiny Teeth” Newsom. Newsom is a boob.
MH/Duuuval
November 27, 2023 at 10:50 pm
DEBATE QUESTION?
CA = 96,000 state inmates (LA Times wire today); pop. = 39m (per Census Bureau est.)
FL = 81,000+ (Levin college of law, UF, 2023); pop. = 22.4m (per Census)
Impeach Biden
November 28, 2023 at 5:37 am
So what is your question then?
Tom
November 28, 2023 at 7:45 am
That’s easy. Outsource prisons to your biggest political donor then claim to be tough on crime and lock everyone up to ensure more donations next election cycle. Next question please? 🙂
MH/Duuuval
November 28, 2023 at 9:27 am
1) Explain the inmate population differential.
2) Compare and contrast the dehumanization that goes on the respective prison systems.
3) Compare and contrast the racial and ethnic disparities of the two systems.
Joe G
November 28, 2023 at 5:45 pm
Number of millionaire households
1 California 1,147,251
2 Texas 650,216
3 New York 570,456
4 Florida 496,971
Yeah, we are hurting over here.
MH/Duuuval
November 28, 2023 at 9:51 pm
Florida may have turned the corner in laying in down the red carpet for the ultra-wealthy with its new 1,000-year protection against taxes for trusts.
(Anything consciously labeled 1000 years always reminds me of the 1000-year Reich, which lasted approximately 11 years.)
Dont Say FLA
December 1, 2023 at 4:50 pm
Debating Newsom did not help Rhonda with anything at all unless Rhonda stopped in at one of Alpharetta GA’s innumerable Asian Massage Parlors for a handy after the debate.
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