{"id":585167,"date":"2023-08-01T01:59:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-31T22:59:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/inside-ron-desantis-awkward-comeback-effort\/"},"modified":"2023-08-01T01:59:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-31T22:59:35","slug":"inside-ron-desantis-awkward-comeback-effort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/inside-ron-desantis-awkward-comeback-effort\/","title":{"rendered":"#Inside Ron DeSantis\u2019 awkward comeback effort"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ROCHESTER, N.H. \u2014 For $1, New Hampshire voters were invited to drink beer with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Saturday in Concord.<\/p>\n

But barely more than two dozen people showed up at the New Hampshire Home Builders Association, which slashed the ticket price for the general<\/a> public from $50 late in the week in order to build the crowd.<\/p>\n

By the time the event started, an hour late, there were just 30 people in the room.<\/p>\n

For a campaign that promised allies a new app<\/a>roach while shedding staff amid a cash crunch and declining poll numbers, the meet-and-greet with homebuilders was just one of a string of events in Iowa and New Hampshire in recent days that were distinctive less for any change in DeSantis\u2019 tack than for the appearance of waning interest in his candidacy. <\/p>\n

At least at the outset, DeSantis has reset in name only.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re not gaining traction in the polls, they\u2019ve got to do something,\u201d said Jim Tobin, who attended DeSantis\u2019 economic policy speech in Rochester on Monday, and is leaning toward voting for the governor. \u201cIf he was even in the polls, they wouldn\u2019t be doing anything.”<\/p>\n

In campaign memos and conversations with donors, DeSantis advisers have talked of a path forward by making the governor more approachable through retail politicking \u2014 diners and barbecues \u2014 and town-hall forums that emphasize his policy ideas (the economy and foreign policy in August) and military service. DeSantis\u2019 economic policy speech to a crowd of about 100 people here Monday, along with appearances at restaurants, a house party and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown\u2019s barbecue, followed that plan. <\/p>\n

His campaign says he’s hitting his marks. <\/p>\n

“The media<\/a> will continue their obsession with endless clickbait stories that do nothing to inform voters, and Ron DeSantis will keep sharing his plans to declare American’s economic independence and restore sanity in our country as the next president,” campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said. <\/p>\n

“While some candidates think they are entitled to the nomination,” Romeo added, “the governor will not be outworked and will fight for every vote, one day at a time.”<\/p>\n

While his four-day swing through the Granite State and a bus tour of Iowa last week bore some of the trappings of a candidate trying to make a sharp turn, DeSantis often reverted to his norm, both in substance and style. <\/p>\n

He remains committed to the basic message that, as president, he can export his agenda from Florida to the rest of the country and, despite beefing up his stump speech with broadsides against President Joe Biden and a handful of policy promises, he still emphasizes the culture-war issues that dominated the early days of his campaign.<\/p>\n

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis greets supporters Thursday at the Wayne County Fair in Corydon, Iowa. <\/span>Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a coffee shop in Oskaloosa, Iowa, on Friday, he began his remarks with some sharp zingers against Biden and a tight section on economic conditions. But he then spoke at length about destroying \u201cwoke\u201d culture and defended the Florida Board of Education\u2019s decision to approve a Black history curriculum that said middle school students should learn about the \u201cpersonal benefit\u201d slaves received from learning trades.<\/p>\n

And there were signs that the campaign\u2019s focus on retail politics \u2014 on showing that DeSantis can connect with people outside his bubble \u2014 eluded the candidate at times.<\/p>\n

A 15-year-old at the Oskaloosa coffee shop asked about military service restrictions on people with mental health disorders \u2014 a topic right in line with the DeSantis campaign\u2019s desire to highlight his military expertise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t legally vote,\u201d the teen said, \u201cbut I struggle with major depressive disorder.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis interrupted the teen with a rejoinder: \u201cIt\u2019s never stopped the other party from not letting you vote.\u201d <\/p>\n

After letting the youngster finish, DeSantis swung back around to acknowledge that he wasn\u2019t sure what restrictions might be in place and stressing that such rules are made with \u201cwhatever is best for the unit\u201d in mind.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t the only moment on the two-state trip<\/a> in which the governor\u2019s attempts to project intimacy by making small talk seemed to backfire.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, what is that? An Icee?\u201d a puzzled-looking DeSantis\u00a0asked one kid<\/a>\u00a0during his Thursday visit to the Wayne County Fair in Corydon. \u201cThat\u2019s probably a lot of sugar, huh?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Later that evening, in Osceola, an 82-year-old farmer told DeSantis that he tends fewer acres since his wife died of cancer five years ago, and asked about the candidate\u2019s thoughts on ethanol, a corn-based renewable fuel used in cars.<\/p>\n

DeSantis passed up an opportunity to offer sympathy, launching into a stump-speech promise to \u201cturn back this rush to electric vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agreeing with DeSantis\u2019 view on electric vehicles, the farmer said he couldn\u2019t afford to transition his tractors and other equipment. In that case, it seemed, the voter found a way to connect with DeSantis rather than the other way around.<\/p>\n

DeSantis defended his personal touch in an interview with NBC News<\/a> last week, arguing that critics are off-base when they say he has difficulty connecting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThat hasn\u2019t\u00a0been the truth,\u201d he said during the Iowa tour. \u201cThe truth here on this trip, we\u2019ve gone to all these counties, people coming up to me saying, ‘I\u2019m so glad that you showed up. You know, you\u2019re the first guy to actually show up here where people are signing up committing to caucus for us and really significant numbers in terms of the percentages of people that are showing up.’\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis said that\u2019s a sign that his campaign is moving in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019re making big, big progress,\u201d he said, pointing to his visits to smaller counties. \u201cI\u2019m going to say I have been in your community. We\u2019ve listened to your concerns, and we\u2019re going to deliver results for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeSantis\u2019 cash-strapped campaign has turned to his super PAC, Never Back Down, to defray costs by sponsoring events that DeSantis attends. Ostensibly, part of his new strategy is to get closer contact with voters at slimmed-down meetings. That has the obvious benefit of portraying sparse attendance as a virtue. <\/p>\n

There were some bright spots on DeSantis\u2019 most recent campaign swing, which was due to wrap up Tuesday with a town hall-style event televised by WMUR in New Hampshire. <\/p>\n

After his Lincoln Dinner speech to the Iowa GOP Friday night, DeSantis hung out with supporters at an after-party sponsored by his super PAC, beer in hand<\/a>. The speech itself, part of a cattle call of candidates delivering remarks to a crowd of more than 1,000 Iowa Republicans, drew applause and praise from attendees.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeSantis was in danger of being written off by many Iowa Republican Party leaders and activists,\u201d said Will Rogers, a former chairman of the Polk County, Iowa, GOP who has not endorsed a candidate. \u201cHis performance at Friday night\u2019s dinner clearly shows that he has a lot of life left in his campaign, and this might have been the start of his comeback.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, at a campaign event Monday in Rochester, N.H. <\/span>Charles Krupa \/ AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Sunday, at Brown\u2019s barbecue, DeSantis spoke to an energized crowd of well more than 100 people \u2014 more than at the homebuilders event but still short of the audiences that flocked to see him in Iowa during his pre-campaign book tour. <\/p>\n

Despite out-raising the field, earning enough media coverage to make himself a household name in political circles and securing second place in polling, DeSantis\u2019 campaign looks more like the operation of a second-tier candidate now than the juggernaut it was expected to be.<\/p>\n

This month, DeSantis fired more than 40 percent of his campaign staff after a filing with the Federal Election Commission showed that he had tapped out top donors and burned through cash. Out of $20.1 million raised in his first six weeks as a candidate, he had spent $7.8 million. Under federal election law, roughly $3 million of the remainder can\u2019t be used in the primary because it is reserved for the general election.<\/p>\n

At the same time, DeSantis\u2019 poll numbers have sagged. A New York Times\/Siena College survey<\/a> released Monday showed former President Donald Trump at 54 percent and DeSantis at 17 percent. The remaining candidates in the crowded field were all below 4 percent. <\/p>\n

DeSantis donors and allies have long been concerned about his campaign. Some expressed optimism about his chances of resetting his trajectory after the staff layoffs. But other Republicans say the campaign is still falling well short of expectations. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s got a very good team in Iowa and I think he\u2019s heavily focused,\u201d said a GOP lawmaker who has not endorsed in the race yet. \u201cBut am I disappointed overall? Yeah. I think people thought the rollout was going to be better. I think they thought there would be a more robust campaign, that they\u2019d be making more progress. And so, yeah, I think it\u2019s been disappointing over the last six weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

The attendance at Saturday’s \u201cBeers With Builders\u201d event was measurably smaller than the crowds DeSantis drew at several stops on his first trip to the state as a candidate this year.<\/p>\n

Originally, organizers had made the event free to members of the homebuilders\u2019 association and charged $50 per ticket for nonmembers. But in an effort to pack the room, the association dropped the price to $1 for nonmembers \u2014 a nominal fee designed to prevent tickets from being reserved by malicious actors.<\/p>\n

\u201cI charged a token $1 because the \u2018bots\u2019 fill up events with bad emails,\u201d association executive director Matt Mayberry said in a text exchange with NBC News.<\/p>\n

But a cheap ticket and free beer could only do so much. <\/p>\n

Allan Smith and Emma Barnett reported from New Hampshire, Henry J. Gomez from Iowa, and Jonathan Allen from Washington, D.C.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Jonathan Allen<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Jonathan Allen is a\u00a0senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/source>\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

Henry J. Gomez<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Henry J. Gomez is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/source>\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

Allan Smith<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Allan Smith is a political reporter for NBC News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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<\/source>\"\"<\/picture><\/div>\n

Emma Barnett<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Emma Barnett is a 2024 NBC News campaign\u00a0embed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Gabe Gutierrez, Scott Wong and Alec Hern\u00e1ndez contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n