Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008… and lost the GOP nomination to John McCain, who had come in 4th in Iowa. Four years later, Rick Santorum won… and lost the nomination to Mitt Romney. Four years after that, Ted Cruz won… and lost the nomination to Señor Trumpanzee, who’s still whining that the caucuses were stolen and rigged against him. Right now, DeSantis has dropped down into third place nationally— by a hair:
Trump- 62.7%
Haley- 11.0%
DeSantis- 10.9%
But DeSantis is still holding onto his second place in Iowa, even if pretty precariously. Will that be enough to actually keep him a plausible contender for a Trumpless 2028?
Trump- 51.3%
DeSantis- 18.6%
Haley- 16.1%
Haley has the momentum and she’s been gaining on him. In fact, in the new Emerson poll, she bested him by 2 points. Most people say DeSantis’ campaign is already over. If he comes in third in Iowa in less than 2 weeks, he becomes a footnote and a punchline for Trump’s standup routine. As of now Senator Rick Scott and 13 of Florida’s 20 GOP congressmembers have endorsed Trump. Only one, Laurel Lee, his former Secretary of State, has endorsed DeSantis.
On Wednesday, James Oliphant and Gram Slattery reported that Iowa is a make it or break it moment for DeSantis. He has no chance to beat Trump and he’s hoping he can finish as a strong second. He probably won’t— and even if he does, maybe he’ll come in a strong 4th in New Hampshire. “No candidate,” the wrote, “has staked more on a strong result in Iowa than DeSantis: He visited all 99 counties in the state, fiercely courted its socially conservative voters and secured the backing of its governor. Associates of DeSantis say he needs at least a second-place finish in Iowa, and a poor showing there would likely doom his bid. The next Republican nominating contest comes Jan. 23 in New Hampshire, where he has been lagging in polls behind Trump and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.” He’s also lagging behind Chris Christie and some polls even show Ramaswamy almost catching to him. He waited too long to criticize Trump— while Trump didn’t hold back from making him into a laughing stock.
At an event in a small community center in Waukee, Iowa, on Wednesday, DeSantis peppered his remarks with criticism of Trump, contending that he failed to follow through on his campaign promises, including building a wall on the U.S. southern border and deporting millions of migrants in the country illegally.
"What makes you think somehow he's gonna get it done the second time around?" DeSantis asked the crowd of about 100 people.
…DeSantis' campaign has been plagued by money woes and discord between his campaign staff and a super PAC supporting him, Never Back Down. But more fundamentally, he has struggled to expand his appeal beyond a narrow slice of the Republican electorate and position himself as an heir to Trump's political movement.
At a campaign rally for supporters on New Year's Eve, DeSantis' most influential evangelical supporter, Bob Vander Plaats, urged those in the room to not surrender. "Everywhere I go, the polls don't match up with reality," he said.
Those close to DeSantis or his nomination effort privately acknowledge that he needs to finish at least second in Iowa to keep his candidacy viable.
One person who speaks with the governor frequently said even a close finish that results in both DeSantis and Haley coming away with the same number of delegates would be a defeat. The 40 delegates up for grabs in Iowa are awarded on a proportional basis.
"We're hoping that we're going to surprise everyone," said that person, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about the state of the campaign. "If he gets the same amount of delegates, that's bad."
One major donor, who has spent more than $1 million supporting DeSantis, said a third-place finish would be the end of the campaign.
…He barnstormed the western part of the state on Wednesday holding several events, and he will do the same in the eastern region over Friday and Saturday, when Trump will also hold four rallies in Iowa.
"Iowa ... I just think is important because this is the first one, you know, all the fanfare," DeSantis said at a campaign event at a restaurant in Sioux City. "And we think that will really propel us as we go forward."
It all depends on money. The past, as you point out, shows that IA is all but irrelevant to the nazi nom. They do caucuses instead of voting and even the nazis know that counting a few thousand bought votes won't win nationwide. They also know that the christian zealot usually wins there, and up until the christians decided trump was jesus, that wouldn't win nationwide either.
But since meathead blew most of his money on private jet flights and whothefuckknowswhat, he's running on fumes. So he may just fade away after he loses the first couple of nazi plebiscites on the office of fuhrer.
In case trump dies or loses bigly (neither is likely), he'll have 4 years to…