We all read Nate Cohn’s piece this morning on how the Florida Governor seems’ to NOT be starting off strong but could drop off a cliff in a possible Presidential run….
Cohn points to DeSantis being in a a stronger position at this time before the primaries then other’s….
The NY Times piece does question the Florida Governors lack of media ‘charisma’ , something we’d associate with Joe Biden also….
But I’m gonna add something Cohn leaves out….
Donald Trump….
Ron DeSantis IS a creature of Trumpism….
And right now?
Donald Trump is HARD on DeSantis case….
Is Ron DeSantis the next Scott Walker? It’s a question I’ve been hearing a lot lately.
The premise is that there’s an important similarity between the two: They both earned the affection of conservatives by “owning the libs” as governors, rather than by giving soaring speeches or otherwise demonstrating the skills to win a presidential nomination.
In the end, Mr. Walker’s success in Wisconsin did not translate to the national stage; the implication is that Mr. DeSantis’s success in Florida might not translate either. A wave of articles over the last few weeks has questioned whether he has the charisma, charmand likability to win the nomination. If he falters, the ending of his campaign might read a like lot the story of Walker for President.
But, at least at the beginning of the race, Mr. DeSantis is no Scott Walker. He would start the campaign in a very different and far stronger position, even if there is still no way to know whether he “has what it takes” to succeed against former President Donald J. Trump.
What sets Mr. DeSantis apart from Mr. Walker? To be blunt: how many people already say they want him to be president.
In this narrow but important respect, Mr. DeSantis has a lot more in common with Barack Obama or Ronald Reagan than Mr. Walker or the other promising first-time candidates who did not live up to high hopes in recent years, like Kamala Harris, Rick Perry or the retired general Wesley Clark.
Overall, Mr. DeSantis has 32 percent support in polls taken since the midterm elections. This is not a fleeting product of a wave of favorable media coverage. Instead, he has made steady gains in the polls over the last two years.
Mr. Walker, in contrast, had 7 percent in the early polls….
…
Mr. DeSantis will probably need to be a relatively strong campaigner and debater to survive against made-for-television Mr. Trump….