The DeSantis official’s expectation-setting lowers the bar from just a few weeks ago, when the head of DeSantis’s mammoth super PAC, Never Back Down, was predicting a big win in the first GOP primary. “Iowa is a real state for us because of its education — it’s a highly educated state — because of income, because of Bible reading,” Never Back Down lead strategisttold a gathering of donors before the August 23 GOP debate in Milwaukee. “[Donald Trump is] going to lose the first two states.
As the campaign continues to fail to close the gap, Roe and the official DeSantis campaign are playing the blame game,Friday. “Ron is telling everyone that the biggest mistake he ever made was hiring Jeff Roe,” a prominent Republican close to the campaign told Sherman. But Never Back Down is still blanketing Iowa, and is hosting DeSantis this weekend on a bus tour through the state. The PAC, which has set up five offices that employ 20 people in the state, is also sponsoring an air-wave blitz and door-knocking operation., told Politico that the amount of DeSantis facetime Iowa voters will have gotten by January will pay dividends.
The campaign also hopes that Trump’s relative lack of presence in the state and his multi-tentacled state and federal legal issues will help close the gap by January. “I think that former President Trump is not coming and mobilizing the people who support him,” Iowa state Senate President