WAUKEE, Iowa — Vivek Ramaswamy is running out of time and going all out.
With his polls stuck in neutral, a trio of rivals sucking up much of the media’s oxygen, and bad reports circulating about the future of his campaign, the 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur and fledgling GOP presidential candidate are crossing paths in Iowa in a race to stay relevant — hoping to deliver a surprise finish in the Iowa caucuses Monday.
“The energy we saw on the ground in Iowa was electric, and the level of attendance and excitement far exceeded the DeSantis and Astroturfed Haley campaigns,” campaign spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin told The Post this week.
“We will finish in the top three. Mark my words.”
Up close and personal
Ramaswamy has cultivated a strong online persona during his campaign, none more so than when he argued during the November debate that Joe Rogan, Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk should be moderators.
Vivek Ramaswamy has scheduled more local events in Iowa than his GOP rivals. Getty Images
But he has fans in real life too.
Jing Kan, 41, of Urbandale, bumped into Ramaswamy at a local gym in May last year and became an enthusiastic supporter — especially of the candidate’s free-speech ethos.
“I’ve never seen a political candidate approach people at the gym,” he told The Post after Ramaswamy’s event at a local restaurant.
“He is very approachable,” added Kan, a Shanghai native who will caucus for the first time Monday.
Some of the voters Ramaswamy attracted to his event were not committed, but rather curious and eager to hear him.
“I’ll make a decision Monday night,” Greg Miller, 57, of Boone, told The Post Wednesday. “I appreciate what he is fighting for. I think he did a really good job.”
“Right now it’s changing,” added Dan Joiliet, 65, of Des Moines. “I love what Nikki Haley said.”
Ramaswamy had boasted about going to bed at 3 am and waking up for the day as late as 6 am during several grueling days on the campaign trail.
Between stops, he called voters from cars or buses, urging them to vote for him.
As the presidential candidate went, Ramaswamy was surprisingly unconcerned about last-minute schedule changes.
On Wednesday, he sat down for an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News, which Ramaswamy apparently found out minutes before it happened.
There was a greater need for improvement this week due to the wintry weather, which forced Ramaswamy to meet three events Tuesday — a day after he knocked out Haleyformer US ambassador to the UN, for doing the same.
On Tuesday evening, Ramaswamy had to make headlines in Pella, Iowa remotely via iPad because of slippery roads and dangerous driving conditions.
Despite the hurdles, the campaign claims Ramaswamy will complete at least 390 events by January 15. By comparison, the campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis claim to be finished about 240 events so far.
New headache
Hard work may not pay off, and the vulture leaves.
Several Republican officials claimed to have fielded employment inquiries from Ramaswamy’s campaign staff as far back as November, Axios reported Tuesday.
One applicant indicated a willingness to start in February — after the Iowa and New Hampshire contests, but before the caucuses and primaries in Nevada and South Carolina.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis have traded blows in recent weeks as they battle to lock down second place behind former President Trump. Reuters
Ramaswamy disputed the report and called the news channel “nonsense” during a brief scuffle with reporters Tuesday afternoon that doubled as a scolding session.
“Classic mainstream media lies … part of the establishment trying to count us out,” he sneers at one point. “You know what, I’ve done more events than every other candidate combined.”
Polls also paint a bleak picture for Ramaswamy, who has rented an apartment in Des Moines as his staging ground for his foray into the Hawkeye State.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Ramaswamy is at 6.8% in Iowa, behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (15.2%), Haley (17.2%) and former President Donald Trump (53.6%)
“We found that about 50% of the attendees were not registered Republicans,” McLaughlin claimed (Iowa rules allow same-day party registration at the caucus site). “[Ramaswamy support is] not caught in the polls.”
Ramaswamy missed another potential platform when he failed to qualify for Wednesday night’s CNN debate with Haley and DeSantis.
In addition, he was not invited to participate in a solo town hall by Fox News this week — while Haley, DeSantis and Trump all were.
Just in case you thought Ramaswamy was completely ignored by cable news, 10pm FNC host Greg Gutfeld has offered the candidate a chance to appear on Gutfeld’s eponymous freewheeling panel show.
Locals listen to Vivek Ramaswamy speak during a campaign stop at the Hampton Inn & Suites in Sioux City. Getty Images
To counter criticism from CNN and Fox, Ramaswamy went further online, joining podcasters and conservative internet stars Tim Pool and Candace Owens for live shows opposite both the Haley-DeSantis debate and the Trump town hall.
Despite what the signs and tea leaves say, the core of Ramaswamy’s support is still there.
His Iowa co-chairman Matt Schultz, the state’s former secretary of state, told voters this week that he is backing past caucus winners Rick Santorum and Sen. Ted Cruz, despite pessimistic forecasts.
“I’m hoping for a little bit of a miracle as we go into this campaign,” Schultz said.
“Everything I love about Donald Trump — a political outsider, a businessman, someone who wants to drain the swamp — is Vivek. And the things I don’t like about Donald Trump, but we’ll just call it drama or distraction is not Vivek.”
Get out the vote in Illinois
Ramaswamy has been adamant that he is in the 2024 contest for the long haul.
But last month, the campaign confirmed that he would not be on the March 19 primary ballot in Illinois, whose delegates account for about 2.5% of the national total.
“We decided as a team a month ago that we will not play there. you [return on investment] wouldn’t be worth it,” McLaughlin said.
Currently, his campaign aims to be on the ballot in all 49 other states as well as all six US territories that hold nominating contests as well as Washington, DC.
Former Rep. Steve King has endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy for president. Getty Images
But missing out on a chance to pick up a delegate anywhere is usually a bad sign for a candidate.
Before dropping out, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie missed the vote in Maine, while Haley is set to participate in Nevada’s non-binding primary instead of the Silver State caucus, which will have actual representation in the game.
Looking back and forward
Regardless of how Iowa turns out for Ramaswamy, he has made a big rise out of political obscurity.
Despite being an occasional cable news author and guest, Ramaswamy launched his campaign in February 2023 as a little-known political entity who had never held political office before.
Many in the media were quick to call Ramaswamy a longshot, but he managed to stay in the race longer than Christie or other political veterans such as Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence.
Donald Trump had kind words for the biotech entrepreneur. AP
Part of that may be due to Ramaswamy’s loyalty to Trump and his advocacy of the Make America Great Again ideology — so much so that critics have accused him of being a puppet of the 45th president.
“I think there are two American first candidates in this race,” Ramaswamy said during a recent event in Iowa. “That’s Donald Trump and me.”
He has also warned of a convoluted “trap” he believes the “establishment” is setting for the GOP.
“[The establishment] want to narrow this down to a horse race between Donald Trump and a puppet they can control, to then remove Trump from contention so that puppet can be the next president,” he told The Post Tuesday.
Ramaswamy sidestepped the question of whether or not choosing Trump as the nominee would trigger the alleged trap when pressed by The Post, though he has — boldly and counterintuitively — opened up the prospect of making Trump his running mate.
Ramaswamy’s loyalty did not go unnoticed by the man himself.
“I’m sure he will support me,” Trump wrote on Truth Social late last year. “But Vivek is a good man, and it’s not over yet! [sic]”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
