The 2024 election coming at us quickly….
Here’s a look at the Republican side….
The voting at the Iowa caucuses takes place on January 15, when Republicans gather in neighborhood precincts across the state. But December is when many undecided voters will make their choices, fueling a sense of urgency for the campaigns of Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and others, who have only 40 days left to make their case….
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As fall turns to winter here, it’s a season of political choosing for Republicans taking part in the first stop of the party’s presidential nominating process. It’s a particularly critical moment for DeSantis and Haley to show that the primary is still a true contest, not merely a coronation for Trump.
There’s little doubt Trump remains an unparalleled driving force in the campaign. He returned to Iowa on Tuesday – his second visit in four days – in a strategic effort to maintain his dominance and avoid allowing too many onetime supporters like Hofmann to break away.
Yet exhaustion with the former president among the party faithful – once barely whispered about – now freely comes alive in conversations with Republicans like Roger Dvorak, who has planted a Haley campaign sign in the front yard of his Cedar Rapids home….
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The question is how many Iowa Republicans are inclined to go against the grain of their Trump-controlled party as they make their final decisions.
The caucuses have traditionally served as a way of to narrow a crowded field, rather than to pick the candidate who goes on to become the nominee. Many caucusgoers take pride in elevating underdogs or humbling front-runners….