With Trump absent, DeSantis likely to be top target at Republican debate
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[August 08, 2023]
By James Oliphant and Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The first Republican debate of the 2024 U.S.
presidential campaign is shaping up as a crucial moment for Florida
Governor Ron DeSantis, who badly needs some momentum in his challenge to
former President Donald Trump for the party's nomination.
Complicating the matter for DeSantis: Trump, by far the front-runner in
the race for the right to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden,
appears unwilling to provide him with a target.
Trump has said he plans to skip the Aug. 23 debate in Milwaukee. If that
happens, DeSantis himself likely would become the focus of attacks from
other candidates looking to climb past him and brand themselves as
voters' primary alternative to Trump, according to interviews with rival
campaigns, Republican political advisers and a former presidential
candidate.
A Republican strategist close to Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador
to the United Nations who is also seeking the nomination, said the field
is likely to treat Trump "gingerly" and instead train their fire on
DeSantis, who is expected to occupy the center slot on the stage.
"The guy on the stage in the No. 1 spot is probably going to be taking
more heat than the others," said the strategist, who spoke on condition
of anonymity and was offering his views on the Republican field in
general and not about Haley's strategy in particular.
Rival campaigns smell blood in the water as DeSantis has faced questions
over profligate campaign spending and his readiness for the national
stage.
In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, released last week, Trump held
47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis dropping 6
percentage points from July down to just 13%. None of the other
candidates due to attend the debate have broken out of single digits.
Hotel entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, the biggest individual donor to a
group supporting the DeSantis presidential bid, told Reuters on Friday
he will not donate more money unless the Florida governor attracts new
major donors and adopts a more moderate approach.
Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator and Republican presidential
candidate who participated in a series of debates in the 2012 election,
said DeSantis will need to be ready for an "onslaught" of attacks.
During the early primaries when Santorum briefly held center stage as
the front-runner, he was widely viewed as having a tough night trying to
defend his record in Congress.
"I didn't prepare to be the center of attention," Santorum said. "I
didn't prepare enough for the attacks and where the attacks were going
to come from. And it cost me."
The DeSantis campaign declined to comment on his debate preparations.
A former U.S. Navy attorney who graduated from Harvard Law School,
DeSantis can be an effective sparring partner, said Justin Sayfie, who
served as a top adviser to Republican Jeb Bush, the former Florida
governor and presidential candidate.
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Florida Governor Ron Desantis speaks as
he is interviewed by Former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson (not
pictured) during the Family Leadership Summit at the Iowa Events
Center, in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., July 14, 2023. REUTERS/Scott
Morgan/File Photo
"I have to believe he will be well prepared to punch back hard when
he gets punched," Sayfie said.
THE TRUMP QUANDARY
Beyond Trump and DeSantis, at least five other candidates appeared
to be on track to qualify for the debate: Haley, North Dakota
Governor Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie,
U.S. Senator Tim Scott and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Former Vice President Mike Pence had struggled to reach the debate's
requirement of 40,000 individual donors, but Fox News, which is
hosting the debate, reported late on Monday that he had met the
threshold and would join the others on stage.
Trump has questioned whether he should show up and lend their
candidacies credence. His absence would present a quandary for his
lesser-known rivals as they get a chance to introduce themselves to
a national television audience of millions: Do they attack Trump in
absentia with no risk of return fire or do they focus on those on
stage?
With the exception of Christie and Pence, Republican candidates
largely have stood by Trump as he has faced a mounting wave of legal
troubles, the most recent a four-count federal indictment for
conspiring to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
DeSantis has largely avoided talking specifics about the latest
Trump case, but he has criticized the process as "politicized" and
implied he would pardon Trump. While Trump does not feature in stump
speeches by DeSantis, the governor in recent weeks has subtly upped
his criticisms of the former president's conduct when questioned
about him on the campaign trail.
In an excerpt of an interview with NBC News to be aired on Monday,
DeSantis said that Trump "of course" lost the 2020 election to
Biden. Trump has made false claims that the election was stolen from
him through widespread voting fraud, a view embraced by many
Republican voters.
Santorum said the candidates need to take advantage of the moment to
go after the front-runner - Trump - and try to peel off some of his
support.
"If I was on that stage, I would be going after Trump," Santorum
said. "That's where the votes are."
Aaron Kall, an expert on presidential debates at the University of
Michigan, agreed.
"When Trump is not on the stage, it's time to do it. It's then or
never," Kall said. "It's easier when he's not there, to not have to
look him in the eye."
(Reporting by James Oliphant and Gram Slattery; Editing by Colleen
Jenkins, Will Dunham, Alistair Bell and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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