News/Commentary

DeSantis admits early mistake as Iowa defeat sets in: ‘I should have gone on everything’

January 20, 2024 | | Print Article

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has belatedly realized that he should have done far more media appearances earlier in his campaign.

Speaking with conservative radio show host Hugh Hewitt on Thursday, he acknowledged that his performance in Iowa this past week may have been better had he done the required work.

“I spent a lot of time on the ground in Iowa, and it’s good. And when you meet people, you convert them,” he said. “But there’s just so many voters out there that you’ve got to do. And I came in not really doing as much media. I should have just been blanketing. I should have gone on all the corporate shows. I should have gone on everything.”

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He added that it didn’t dawn on him that he should change up his media strategy until the end of summer.

“I started doing that as we got into the end of the summer, and we did it. But we had an opportunity, I think, to come out of the gate and do that and reach a much broader folk,” he noted.

That being said, he argued that things are different now.

“Now, I’m everywhere,” he said. “I mean, I’ll show up wherever. I committed to do the debate tonight on WMUR and ABC in New Hampshire. I’m the only one that’s willing to debate. I’ve done these televised town halls. I go out and take questions from voters.”

“You know, I think that’s good. I’m the only one that’s not at this point running a basement campaign. Biden’s running a basement campaign. Trump won’t debate, won’t take questions from voters. And now, Haley won’t debate and won’t take questions from voters,” he continued.

Responding to DeSantis’ remarks, critics coughed up a number of additional reasons why they believe he failed in Iowa:

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But not everybody thinks DeSantis ran an inferior or even bad campaign. Conservative commentator Kurt Schlichter argued on Thursday that the Florida governor was never going to be able to peel Trump’s die-hard supporters away from him.

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“What was the One Neat Trick RDS could have pulled off that would have made people leave Trump?” Schlichter wrote. “Say meaner things about him? Wonk it up 72%? Smile more? His campaign, like every other campaign ever, made some mistakes. None changed the essential fact – the voters are still for Trump.”

He added that at this point, he doesn’t see a path forward for DeSantis.

“I don’t see a path for Ron DeSantis to win,” he wrote. “New Hampshire’s primary voter roll is full of Democrats and suburban wine women. South Carolina loves Trump. What’s the state after that where he’s going to not just come back, but come back like a tsunami?”

“I just don’t see it, and it doesn’t make me happy to say it. But I have to say what I think. And I think Iowa has made clear that the base is intent on riding Donald J. Trump all the way to the finish line,” he continued.

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Vivek Saxena
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