As Ron DeSantis continues to stumble on the national stage and trail behind Donald Trump in the polls, his campaign has reportedly sent a “confidential memo” to donors assuring them that the Florida governor isn’t wasting everybody’s time and money. In fact, the campaign has a plan that it’s feeling pretty good about.
According to a copy of the secret memo obtained by NBC News, the DeSantis campaign is putting all of its resources into early states instead of worrying about Super Tuesday. More specifically, the campaign is confident it can gain momentum by focusing on New Hampshire, where DeSantis has already embarrassed himself once by pissing off the Republican Federation of Women, which has already thrown its considerable political weight behind Trump.
Nevertheless, the DeSantis campaign assured donors that he can still peel off voters. Via NBC News:
“Early state voters are only softly committed to the candidates they select on a ballot question this far out — including many Trump supporters,” the memo said. “Our focus group participants in the early states even say they do not plan on making up their mind until they meet the candidates or watch them debate.”
As for what happens if it becomes clear that DeSantis is going to get crushed by Trump right out of the gate? The Republican primary will become a pudding cup that DeSantis won’t stick his fingers in.
“From my understanding, if we don’t see a bump in the polls, we are basically going to shut down the idea of a national operation,” a DeSantis-aligned operative told NBC News.
(Via NBC News)