Weeks of campaign bickering are likely to come to an end Wednesday night when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley meet face-to-face in downtown Miami for the third Republican primary debate.
Both contenders are trying to position themselves as the most viable alternatives to former President Donald Trump, who has long held the lead in the GOP primary.
The fight has become more bitter as recent polls have shown Haley with gains on DeSantis in the early voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
“I think both Haley and DeSantis have given up trying to cut through Trump’s solid support and [are instead] do what they can to claim the No. 2 should Trump’s candidacy explode,” Northeastern University political science professor Costas Panagopoulos told The Post.
Trump has 91 charges pending against him in four impeachments, a fact that Haley and DeSantis suggest will be a major liability for Republicans in next year’s general election.
The first criminal trial on Donald Trump’s schedule is set for March, just before the Super Tuesday contest. Gregory P. Mango
For now, however, Trump’s support among the party’s supporters is growing stronger as his legal troubles mount.
As of midday Wednesday, the 77-year-old had a 43.7 percentage point lead over DeSantis in the RealClearPolitics aggregate.
But Trump’s legal situation is unprecedented for a party presidential candidate, and with three of his four trials now scheduled for 2024, both Haley and DeSantis could reap the rewards if the former president’s campaign gets bogged down in the courtroom.
The DeSantis campaign believes the Florida governor “is the only candidate who appeals to both the Trump and non-Trump parties,” according to a recent campaign memo.
“In short, without Ron DeSantis in this primary, Trump is the Republican nominee. Nikki Haley and others are, at best, only playing the role of spoilers — exponentially increasing the likelihood of Trump’s candidacy,” DeSantis’ team wrote.
Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley appear to have gained support from various segments of the Republican Party.Getty Images
The 45-year-old got a boost on Monday after Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds gave him a much-coveted endorsement, a move that has brought down Trump.
DeSantis allies believe Reynolds’ endorsement could give the governor important momentum as he tries to come from behind and overtake Trump in the Jan. 15 caucuses in the Hawkeye State.
On the other hand, Haley’s campaign believes she is better positioned for the long haul because of her second-place finish in New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina.
The Haley campaign has also highlighted DeSantis’ internal polling showing that he was the second choice of many of his voters in the two early states.
Kim Reynolds met with nearly all of the 2024 Republican primary candidates and ultimately chose to endorse Ron DeSantis.Getty Images
“EVEN IF DeSantis does well in Iowa, which is a big ‘if’ given his current slump, he’s so weak in New Hampshire and South Carolina that it doesn’t matter. He has no final game,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney said in a recent memo.
Haley, 51, is no stranger to battling rival candidates on stage.
At the second primary debate in Simi Valley, California, he engaged both biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and his fellow South Carolina Sen. Team Scott.
Except for a brief spat on fracking during the same debate, DeSantis and Haley have largely avoided attacking each other directly.
However, many observers think that will change Wednesday night.
“We all know what’s going to happen,” Scott’s campaign manager Jennifer Decasper predicted in a recent memo. “Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis will turn into a slugfest.”
“Candidates within the same party often have a difficult time distinguishing themselves based on policy positions,” Panagopoulos said. “Landing a few punches during a debate can be a way to break a deadlock.”
The five candidates will compete in the third GOP debate. AFP via Getty Images
But there are risks.
“Mudslinging can also change quickly. Sometimes, both combatants are injured in knife fights,” added Panagopoulos.
Veteran Republican strategist Mike DuHaime, who advised former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, believes that by attacking each other, DeSantis and Haley will “do Trump’s job.”
“Ultimately, to defeat Trump, they’re going to have to have the guts to go after him like Christie did,” DuHaime said.
As Nikki Haley rises in the polls, so does scrutiny from other candidates. AP
The Trump campaign has been content to cheer the battle from the sidelines, using the former president’s pet nickname for both in the process.
“New ad by Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley takes down Ron DeSanctimonious about his troubling record against fracking and drilling,” read a recent email blast from the Trump campaign, featuring a video of an attack on DeSantis.
Political strategist Rina Shah believes both Haley and DeSantis have legitimate strategic reasons for not wanting to think too much about the frontrunner.
“I don’t think either of them will get second place,” Shah told The Post. “I think they still see an opening here.”
“[Haley] can’t come out with an all-out attack on Trump because he saw what he did [former Arkansas Gov.] Asa Hutchinson’s campaign, he saw what he was doing [former Texas Rep.] Will Hurd’s campaign.
“Trump continues to poll highly among likely Republican voters,” Shah added. “And secondly, it is linked to fundraising. He still wants to get donations from them.”
With DeSantis, Shah believes, “he understands that he’s appealing to the MAGA universe of voters because of cultural issues — he’s already done that.”
Early in the 2024 cycle, Ron DeSantis was running competitively with Donald Trump, but the gap was widening. AP
Shah thinks that DeSantis needs to focus on finding ways to broaden his appeal to GOP voters.
“Gov. DeSantis is in the front yard and candidates will come to his house,” said Kristin Davison, Chief Operating Officer of Never Back Down, which supports DeSantis. “He will have a great platform to talk about what he said he would do and what he achieved.
“His victory in 2022, especially in Miami-Dade County, is what a lot of people talked about him running for president in the first place,” he added. “His record as a winner will mean more tonight, after many Trump-backed candidates were disappointed across the country this evening.
“On the contrary,” Davison continued, “Nikki Haley is out of step with the party’s position and the country’s position today. He is running a campaign set for 2008, not a campaign set for 2024.”
Diana Glebova contributed to this report.
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
