Florida, Iowa Democrats quote Jay-Z as Ron DeSantis completes ‘Full Grassley’

Ron DeSantis’ return to Iowa led to a diss track of sorts from the Democratic Parties of both the state he’s coming from and the state he’s in.

FDP Chair Nikki Fried and IDP Chair Rita Hart teamed up for an excoriation of the Governor Saturday, one reliant heavily on a trope from classic hip hop.

“While Ron DeSantis tries desperately to rev up his sputtering presidential campaign with a 99 county tour in Iowa, he’s left behind at least 99 problems for his constituents back home in the Sunshine State.  Iowans need to look no further than his abysmal record down in Florida – from his extreme abortion ban without exceptions for rape or incest, to his abandonment of hundreds of thousands of Floridians who he’s blocked from getting affordable health care – to know that his extreme MAGA agenda is wrong for our country.”

The “99 problems” motif is established further down in the press release, though the parties seem to take liberties with the theme boosted from Jay Z. Several of the “problems” have to do with the same issue — a few address abortion access, a number of them address education changes shepherded by the DeSantis administration, and so on.

Ironically, there is a Florida connection to the lyric, as the titular phrase (“I’ve got 99 problems but a [expletive deleted] ain’t one.”) was quoted in a 2 Live Crew song after being used in an Ice-T tune, with the genesis of the lyric coming from a conversation between Ice-T and Brother Marquis.

DeSantis of course completes the much-ballyhooed “Full Grassley” on Saturday in Iowa, staging a rally in his 99th county.

And he won’t be alone, as the Florida Governor’s two major Hawkeye State endorsers will be on hand for the event at the Thunderdome in Newton at 3 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Central time.

Gov. Kim Reynolds and Bob Vander Plaats of the Family Leader Foundation are slated to speak at the event, which will put on display the two bookends of the DeSantis strategy in the state.

Ahead of that event, DeSantis has a solo stop in Sioux City with the supportive Never Back Down PAC, which has suffered two high-profile defections from Chris Jankowski and Adam Laxalt in recent weeks, and which is taking blame from the DeSantis political operation for poor shepherding of resources, which include $82.5 million transferred from a political committee intended for the 2022 re-election campaign.

Jay Z’s “99 Problems,” a single off the Black Album that was released 20 years ago this week, only got up to #30 in the charts. To his credit, DeSantis is doing better than 30th place in Iowa though.

A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll conducted late last month showed DeSantis and Haley tied at 16%, with Trump at 43%. That survey is widely regarded as a reliable benchmark in the Hawkeye State.

That survey’s results were effectively corroborated by a Trafalgar Group survey conducted Nov. 3-5, in which Trump’s 44% support is more than the aggregate backing for DeSantis (18%), Haley (15%) and Tim Scott (9%), who has since exited the presidential race.