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“Winston Churchill once remarked that, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.’ While this campaign has ended, the mission continues.”
— In a fitting end to what has been called the worst presidential campaign in modern times, Ron DeSantis ended his campaign as it started — ineptly — by misquoting Winston Churchill and instead quoting from a 1939 Budweiser advert, reports Pink News.
$530,000
“Never Back Down, the super PAC supporting Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s presidential bid, cut more than $530,000 in reserved time on broadcast television stations in Iowa and New Hampshire on Friday in what the group said was a shift in strategies following the second Republican debate,” Bloomberg reports.
“Ahead of the second Republican debate, the DeSantis camp is plagued by growing doubts among donors and allies that their biggest unspoken problem may be the candidate, not the campaign.”
8%
A new Insider Advantage poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump leading the GOP primary field with 42%, followed by Nikki Haley at 14%, Chris Christie at 10%, Ron DeSantis at 8%, Vivek Ramaswamy at 5%, Tim Scott at 5% and Doug Burgum at 4%.
3rd
A new Emerson College poll in New Hampshire finds Donald Trump leading the Republican primary with 49%, followed by Chris Christie at 9%, Ron DeSantis at 8%, Tim Scott at 6%, Doug Bergum at 4%, Nikki Haley at 4% and Vivek Ramaswamy at 3%.
$95,000
“The DeSantis campaign, a super PAC linked to him and a nonprofit group supporting him together paid $95,000 in recent months to the Family Leader Foundation, an Iowa-based nonprofit led by evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats,” Reuters reports.
$13 million
Florida taxpayers have spent more than $13 million on travel and protective security for Gov. Ron DeSantis in the two years he has prepared and run a campaign to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, according to state records released this week, reports the Tampa Bay Times.
“For a campaign that promised allies a new approach 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’ tack than for the appearance of waning interest in his candidacy. … At least at the outset, DeSantis has reset in name only.”
“The bad DeSantis news doesn’t mean he’s dead. But he’s entered a familiar cycle that often ends in collapse: A candidate is hyped up as a top contender, struggles in the polls, and then scrambles to reset a flagging campaign as donors and voters alike parse every move for signs of weakness — or strength. … Donors are a key group for DeSantis, who is more reliant on big Republican money than Trump. And while the weekend shakeup placated some, it’s caused others to grow even more uneasy.”
$7.9 million
“Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tapped out top donors and burned through $7.9 million in his first six weeks as a presidential candidate,“ NBC News reports. “The numbers suggest, for the first time, that solvency could be a threat to DeSantis’ campaign, which has touted its fundraising ability as a key measure of viability. They reflect the broader reality that DeSantis stalled after his launch: polling ahead of the Republican primary pack but far behind former President Donald Trump.”
