DeSantis, who has had two staff shake-ups in the past three
weeks and is sinking in the polls, had long planned to attend
the Iowa State Fair on Saturday, a political must for aspiring
presidential candidates in the state that kicks off the
Republican nominating contest in January.
Trump's late announcement on Tuesday that he was also going to
attend the event on the same day as DeSantis amounted to a
political gate-crashing of DeSantis' appearance, one the Florida
governor hopes will kick-start his stalled campaign.
DeSantis is making a high-risk bet that he can halt Trump's
march to the Republican presidential nomination by winning Iowa.
Iowa holds the first of the state-by-state Republican nominating
contests on Jan. 15. DeSantis hopes that a win in the Midwestern
state will give him valuable momentum against Trump before
primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Trump's appearance at the Iowa State Fair just hours after
DeSantis' could steal the limelight from the governor and
dominate the headlines. The fair is held in the state capital
Des Moines and runs from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20. Last year, it
attracted more than 1 million visitors.
Trump's appearance will also complicate efforts for the rest of
the Republican field. Apart from Trump and DeSantis, nine other
candidates will be attending the fair between Aug. 11 and Aug.
18, but all are languishing in single digits, over 40 points
behind Trump according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll of
likely Republican voters.
According to that Aug. 3 poll, Trump also leads DeSantis by 34
points, 47% to 13%.
Most of Trump's rivals, including DeSantis, have agreed to be
interviewed individually at the state fair by Iowa's Republican
Governor Kim Reynolds between Aug. 11 and Aug. 18, but Trump
turned down her invitation. Trump has been angered by her public
neutrality in the primary race and her appearance with DeSantis
at several of his Iowa events.
(Reporting by Tim Reid; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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