if the strategy to introduce your candidate to voters is to hide the candidate from the voters, you might have a really shitty candidate https://t.co/fUNK2P09wZ
— Florida Chris (@chrislongview) July 5, 2023
… DeSantis has been on the campaign trail since May and so far, his poll numbers have not been going in the right direction. We’re still more than six months away from the primary season.
One political expert told 8 On Your Side that things can certainly change — if the campaign’s tactic does…
Tara Newsom is a political analyst. She said DeSantis is not connecting with voters.
“It looks like voters are starting to really get to know him and the more they get to know him, his narrative is a lot different than the man,” Newsom said.
“Gov. DeSantis cannot get within striking reach of Donald Trump and every time he makes a campaign stop, voters seem to step back.”…
Ed Kilgore, at NYMag – “Ron DeSantis Is One Step From Disaster”
If you talk to just about anyone in Republican politics who is not already firmly in the camp of Florida governor Ron DeSantis, you get the sense the man who once inspired comparisons to the triumphant authoritarian Viktor Orban is teetering on the edge of political disaster. Yes, he has tons of money that he’s spending with abandon on Ted Cruz–style field operations in the early states. Yes, he’s finished second and never lower than that in every public poll of the 2024 GOP contest, both nationally and in the states. And yes, having positioned himself as a less erratic and more effective version of the 45th president, he would be the obvious beneficiary of any hypothetical collapse in Donald Trump’s support.
But the fact remains that DeSantis is no closer to the presidential nomination than he was a year ago…
Trump’s lead over DeSantis in the RCP national polling averages is now 32 points (Trump is at 53 percent; DeSantis is at 21 percent). Worse yet for RDS, he has failed to chase off rivals for the limited non-Trump vote; instead, a massive field has assembled, with every single candidate clearly calculating that DeSantis will stumble and fall. And in the shadowy precincts of GOP donors and validators, the DeSantis campaign is constantly being watched closely and found lacking in some respect or other. Their dismay is clearly reflected in a new assessment from the New York Times:
Mr. DeSantis, who has not shown that he is a natural campaigner, has failed to take off in the polls, and his carefully choreographed public events have offered few headline-generating moments, as his campaign, until recently, has worked to shield him from potentially awkward unscripted interactions with voters and the news media.
Still, the Floridian soldiers on, having made the strategic decision to run to Trump’s right while still claiming (without much evidence other than his now-distant 2022 reelection) superior electability. If he can get through the next few months unscathed, he’ll have a chance to show that all his planning and expensive investments in campaign infrastructure can pay off. But there are several possible developments in the campaign that could send the DeSantis operation into a deadly free fall if he mishandles them…
Read the whole thing (it’s not long) for some delicious possibilities!
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) blamed members of media outlets for his sagging poll numbers that have him far behind former President Trump for the lead for the 2024 Republican nomination. https://t.co/Eu6D5iKOWV
— The Hill (@thehill) July 7, 2023
Oh, yeah?
Desatan is killing Florida https://t.co/SZOtzLQkz6
— Steve Weinstein (@steveweinstein) July 8, 2023
From Raw Story, “Experts panic over Florida tourism as major conventions flee state’s ‘unfriendly political environment'”:
… More than half a dozen planned conventions in Broward County, which encompasses the Fort Lauderdale area, have been scrapped in recent months, according to a list drawn up by the county’s tourism promotion group Visit Lauderdale and reported by the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“We lost this program due to political climate,” Visit Lauderdale notes on a decision by the Supreme Council of America Inc., Ancient & Accepted Scottish Rite Masons to cancel its meeting, planned for August next year. It also canceled 855 hotel rooms
Thousands of dollars are also being lost by restaurants and attractions by visitors going elsewhere.
“We were so close on this one,” read another note on the cancellation of the 2024 National Family and Community Engagement and Community Schools Conference – it also pulled out of more than 2,000 hotel rooms…
The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association had planned a 3,000-person conference in 2026 but is instead headed to Milwaukee.
In a note to Visit Lauderdale, it’s spokesperson Beth Miller cited the “unfriendly political environment in Florida.”
“This would otherwise be such a fabulous destination for the group. I sure hope things become less polarizing soon,” she said…
Ron DeSantis doing his best to realize Florida’s reputation as the northernmost of Latin America’s banana republics. https://t.co/FFva1Cilcy
— Peter Wolf (@peterawolf) July 7, 2023
Trigger warning for academics, not to mention those with friends & relatives in Florida: This is actually a really dispiriting story…
… The Tampa Bay Times reviewed records showing an upward tick in staff departures at some of Florida’s largest universities. And, as the Board of Governors discovered this spring, doubts about the state’s academic workplace are spreading fast.
Matthew Lata, a music professor at Florida State University, told board members that candidates were turning down positions in his college “because of the perceived anti-higher education atmosphere in the state.”
Talk of the phenomenon is everywhere, he said. “More and more often we are hearing ‘Florida? Not Florida. Not now. Not yet.’”…
DeSantis has just cemented his hold on a very particular group of Florida voters, though…
party of men whose lawyers have strongly advised them not to mention their ex-wives during court supervised visitation https://t.co/yF8W2f5vyr
— GOLIKEHELLMACHINE (@golikehellmachi) July 8, 2023
Baud
They don’t want to get eaten.
Jeffg166
Is Ron Desantis a serial killer?
different-church-lady
I know this is more Betty’s lane, but WTF is Florida all about that they twice elected a guy who’s too repellent for today’s Nazi-adjacent GOP?
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
What a maroon, as Bugs Bunny would say. Of course Bugs is probably banned in FL due to his propensity to cross dress when the laughs called for it.
mrmoshpotato
Fixed that for ya, Ed!
Alison Rose
@Jeffg166: LOLOL I was coming down here to comment on this exact topic. I saw “RDS” and was like…wasn’t that…….
Then I remembered it was RDK. Lucky break, Ronnie!
Tim Curtin
My God, that Orlando Weekly story. We finally found something that will flip Republican women and it’s just about exactly what you’d think.
SpaceUnit
He’s right to blame the media. They keep reporting on the things he does.
schrodingers_cat
Zen Cat for Caturday
Frankensteinbeck
Pretty much. He sold himself as the white savior who would really crush those minorities once and for all, and when people got a look they saw a weakling.
Alison Rose
I guess Ronnie Bootz’ whole “Make America Florida” thing is his way of explaining his anti-immigration policy. “Let’s make it so no one in their right or even not-quite-right mind wants to come to the whole country, not just the Dangly State!”
Shakti
I only wish this asshole wasn’t my governor and that he would lose his fucking seat to run for President. He has the charisma of a wet sock left in a dryer, starting to mold.
Republicans want voter suppression because without it they have to run marginally more charming candidates. Democrats have to run sequels to Barack Obama, a once in a generation political talent to even have a chance, and Republicans can run off putting schlubs like this guy, Ted Cruz , Scott Walker and Brian Kemp, routinely win state elections. Blech.
Kay
“Community schools” are basically the liberal response to privatizing public schools – it’s a liberal model for public schools. They have absolutely no business meeting in anti public education Florida and I am pleased they cancelled.
Snarki, child of Loki
Hey, if RDS is too much of a wimpy pansy to “dispose” of a guy IN HIS OWN STATE that is standing between him and the nomination, no wonder the GOPers don’t want him!
Frankensteinbeck
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Chuck Jones was asked about Bugs’ cross-dressing in relation to some trans folk finding it validating. He said that there had been no intention for Bugs to be trans, but cultural context changes and if people like seeing Bugs that way and find it empowering, awesome.
mrmoshpotato
@Jeffg166: Well, one in every 500 (400?) Floridians has died of COVID-19, so Y-E-S!
Kay
Christoper Rufo is the reason DeSantis is failing. The anti woke campaign is a loser.
Cheryl from Maryland
When you’ve lost the Masons, you’ve lost (the Masons are a conservative organization that allows women as an auxiliary, with some women only lodges).
Kay
Trump was right about one thing- Florida is “location, location, location” and DeSantis managed to fuck even that up.
Shakti
@different-church-lady: My best guess is voter suppression. DeSantis barely won in a recount. Also Andrew Gillum imploded and was under federal investigation. In 2020, he was also outed in a spectacularly messy way.
The same voters voted on an amendment to restore voting rights for felons who served their sentences and DeSantis spent much of his time doing as much as he could to defang it.
As for Crist?
Eolirin
@Tim Curtin: If it flips Florida for us I’ll take it. They’ve got a Senate race this cycle too. Extreme long shot but one of the few seats we have even the remotest chance in hell of flipping.
Jacqueline Squid Onassis
Sometimes being a fascist is more important than keeping your state’s economy from collapsing. So long Florida and good luck with your quest to become a fascist state.
Alison Rose
Unrelated to RDS but since it’s an open thread, Megan Rapinoe announced that she would be retiring at the end of this season. Gonna be hard not to have her on the USWNT anymore, but she has definitely earned a break! One of the best in the game, no doubt.
That match against France prompted the wonderful headline at Deadspin: Purple-haired Lesbian Goddess Flattens France Like a Crêpe
Let’s see if we can get another WWC win with her before she goes :)
caphilldcne
I just turned down a request to drive a relative to the Florida Keys. I told them I’d meet them in orange beach Alabama. I will not spend my money in a fascist state. And not as long as they are oppressing racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants and LGBTQ+ people. I’d have spent at least $2000 in Florida. I recognize Alabama’s not much better but the fight is in Florida right now.
Cameron
I really would like DeSantis to be the Republican nominee. By the time the election heats up next year, the devastation of Florida will be obvious to the whole world, and all Joe Biden would have to say in a debate is “Is he really going to make the whole country like Florida?”
Ken
Curiously, this is stated as if it were a good thing. I am wondering if Ed Kilgore is being snarky. The following references to “Ted Cruz-style field operations” and “finished second and never lower” would fit with that theory.
caphilldcne
“northernmost of Latin America’s banana republics” – now that’s a right proper turn of phrase that I wish I’d thought of.
Ruckus
DeathSanta is the candidate for the moronic republicans.
ShitForBrains is the candidate for the racist republicans.
So, a rather difficult choice for any Florida republicans.
mrmoshpotato
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Also, DeathSentence would probably shoot Bugs Bunny in cold blood and claim “standing my ground.”
Sure Lurkalot
I dunno, the whiny victimhood…”they’re out to get meeeeeeee”…just might do the trick like nothing else in his bag could. There’s always the Jeb fallback, “please clap”.
Brachiator
The bottom line is that DeSantis is actually doing okay. But Trump’s support is not going to collapse.
Thanks to Trump, the GOP has moved its base to the extreme right. Or the base and the GOP are in sync. No moderate need apply.
That Republican voters are looking for a less erratic version of Trump is a bullshit narrative, as is the fantasy that DeSantis might be that person.
I’m curious as to who the big DeSantis donors might be.
Trump and DeSantis are both scum from the same bucket.
mrmoshpotato
@Tim Curtin:
Yup…
Geminid
Yesterday I got all wrapped up President Zelenskyy’s trip to Turkiye and missed the news that Rep. Jaime Raskin said he won’t run for Maryland’s open Senate seat, just run for reelection to his House seat.
I think that may give Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks the inside track for the nomination. Alsobrooks was first elected chief executive of the 900,000+ resident county in 2018. She served two terms as County Attorney before that, and is 52 years old.
tokyokie
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Well Bugs did use a saw to cut Florida off the rest of the country.
Baud
@tokyokie:
The hero we need.
Jackie
@Eolirin: SURELY FL Dems can get a stronger candidate than the detested Scott? Even republicans hate him! I bet secretly McTurtle hopes he gets primaried!
What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?
@tokyokie: I forgot about that one.
@Frankensteinbeck: Good on Chuck.
Ruckus
@Baud:
Or infected…..
Ken
That would be great! That is, assuming he’d then suffer the same fate as everyone else who’s ever tried to shoot Bugs. With extra anvils.
dmsilev
With regards to conventions and similar, my professional society sent out a poll recently asking what factors the membership considers importing for picking sites for our big conferences. Concealed weapons laws, access to health care including reproductive health, immigration laws, etc. we’re all things whose importance we were asked to rate. Guessing Florida won’t rate all that well on most of those.
(Most recent big meetings were in Chicago and Las Vegas. The next few are Minneapolis, Anaheim, Denver, and LA. Noticing a distinctly bluish tinge here…)
kindness
When the Florida Legislature passed that alimony ends bill, I laughed hard. How many of the oligarchs there are on their 1st wife? None. None of them is the correct answer. So I get their point of view. But for every one of them, there are probably (at least 2) ex-wives who used to also vote and donate to Republicans. Guess the party never thought about that part.
hells littlest angel
Ah, America, where Election Day 2022 is ancient history and Election Day 2024 is right around the corner.
Ruckus
@Shakti:
He has the charisma of a wet sock left in a dryer, starting to mold.
I think you give him too much credit. A sock, even a wet moldy one has a use. SFB Jr. has no use whatsoever.
Mousebumples
Re DeSantis in Wisconsin – new Marquette Law School poll came out this week.
From the Recombobulation Area–
Sounds good, right?
Hopefully, whomever wins the GOP nom crashes and burns in Wisconsin – and nationwide.
laura
@Jeffg166: there is no evidence to suggest that he is not.
Baud
@hells littlest angel:
Heh.
Kelly
The cats had a great afternoon. A large house fly got in. At Last Something to Hunt!! I haven’t seen it for a while and nothing is broken.
Kathleen
@Alison Rose: Proud to say she is fellow grad of University of Portland though I graduated 30 + years before she did!. UP is a very conservative Catholic school.
Jackie
@Brachiator:
“I’m curious as to who the big DeSantis donors might be.”
I‘ve read recently big donors have really soured on Pudd’n Boots – and they aren’t coughing up bucks for TIFG, either.
JoyceH
Who’s on Threads? I joined, had to join Instagram first, but it was easy. Jorts is over there, so that’s okay.
Brachiator
@Frankensteinbeck:
Krazy Kat, created by cartoonist George Herriman, was gender fluid from the beginning.
Krazy was also ethnically ambiguous. Herriman was passing for white and may have built into Krazy’s adventures a metaphor for America’s conflicted relationship with black folks.
Alison Rose
@Kathleen: And she’s from Redding, CA, which is…well, about 200 miles from me, but still!
Doc Sardonic
@different-church-lady: It is simple. Florida Democrats for whatever reason decided to nominate a ‘reformed’ Republican in Charlie Crist for governor. He was a palatable Republican governor, but Democrats didn’t like him then and sure as hell weren’t going to vote for him for governor and didn’t vote for him at the top of the ticket or sat home.
M31
as always, FTFNTY: “who has not shown that he is a natural campaigner,”
lol way to sugarcoat “who has shown he is a creepy-as-fuck weirdo with no charisma, charm, smarts, or political talent of any kind”
Anne Laurie
Ed Kilgore has been an open, professional Democrat for a looong time, so: Yes.
geg6
I don’t care which or how many Ivies this idiot attended, he’s as stupid as they come. And that’s saying a lot in the age of Trump. And based on what I’ve been seeing of their end product, the Ivies are officially the worst schools in America.
Nukular Biskits
I sure hope MS “conservatives” aren’t getting any ideas from FL …
It’s already bad enough here.
252man
@What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?: Speaking of Bugs Bunny:
https://youtu.be/xiTM2HQ0g98
lowtechcyclist
ROFLOL! The mainstream media spent months fluffing him, and he’s managed to undo the effects of all that free positive publicity!
OzarkHillbilly
@different-church-lady: He doesn’t have Hitler’s charisma or oratorical talent.
NutmegAgain
I really worry about what other kind of Lovecraftian horror the GOP is fermenting while we are watching DeSantis and TFG. Really. Now that we can see the bottomless pit right over there … what else is going to come crawling out?
laura
@Kelly: watching the hunt for sky raisins is always fun!
Steeplejack
@schrodingers_cat:
Very Zen cat! Is that the new one?
MattF
It’s as though DeSantis never really thought carefully about that whole ‘voting’ business. So… yeah, if people instinctively hate you on first sight, you’ve got a problem, career-wise, in politics. Does raise the question, though, of how he won the race for governor. Hmmm.
indycat32
Maybe he’s hoping the Trump jury will be made up of deSantis backers.
OzarkHillbilly
@kindness: Ahh, fuck those moochers….
mrmoshpotato
Ghoulies on Svengoolie! 8/7C!
Spanky
@geg6:
Amen!
Spanky
@OzarkHillbilly:
Something Hitler worked hard to perfect. These maroons don’t have the work ethic to do that.
OzarkHillbilly
@Spanky: Yep, they thought hate was all they needed.
Mr. Bemused Senior
@Spanky: Hitler worked hard.
Nukular Biskits
@Baud:
They shouldn’t have to worry unless they taste like chocolate pudding, right?
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@mrmoshpotato:
MeTV, right? I have Dish and no longer have it because of contract disputes between Dish and MeTV : (
I was watching In the Heat of the Night and Batman with Adam West when I lost access last year. I don’t have access to the local ABC affiliate either because of contract BS
sab
@different-church-lady: Giant tv advertising market. Candidates don’t actually have to meet and greet. Just raise money and run ads.
MazeDancer
DeeSantis bobbleheads. He cannot talk without wiggling his head back and forth like a doll on a spring. It’s very odd.
Also, if you haven’t seen POTUS in his swim trunks, you should. Especially compared to that old guy.
schrodingers_cat
@Steeplejack: Yep.
sab
@schrodingers_cat: I am a big fan of mackeral cats. Very chilled.
Dan B
@JoyceH: Threads is sharing every private detail of everyone. They’re reporting on women who go to get abortions in states where it’s legal.
Jackie
@MazeDancer: And Joe’s tanned complexion isn’t 🍊!
sab
@geg6: My sister just retired from a great career imprimented by her Ivy degree (Brown), but she learned all her art history at RISD and UC Berkeley and all her Chinese in summer school at Middlebury and then in Taiwan.
Adam L Silverman
Just a quick note. Florida’s universities and community colleges, as a vestige of the Red Scare/McCarthy era, require all faculty, as well as graduate students employed by the universities, and staff to take a loyalty oath. To both the US and the State of Florida. I took this oath as both a doctoral student with teaching duties at UF and as a post-doc at UF for the two years they kept me on as faculty while my dad was terminally ill in Tampa. It is not the same oath I took year’s later as a supervisory, senior non political Department of the Army civilian. Combine this with the recent legal changes regarding higher education and you couldn’t pay me to take a faculty position. Not that I’d want one in civilian academia, but I could be tempted to come be a professor of practice teaching national security strategy and policy and theories of war and strategy and things like that for a while. But most definitely NOT in Florida.
sab
@MazeDancer: As an overweight undertrained Boomer, my feelings are hurt by the comparison. Does Biden think he is better because he exercises?
ETA /// I could exercise. I just don’t bother.
mrmoshpotato
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Yeah. MeTV. Bummer about the contract dispute.
Another Scott
@Tim Curtin: I’m not sure what Orlando Weekly story you’re referring to, so I went and looked around and saw this… OrlandoWeekly.com:
He’s a tremendous leader who really likes the word tremendous. I’ll bet I know his favorite comic book…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Adam L Silverman
@Another Scott: He’s referring to this one:
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/news/this-is-a-death-sentence-for-me-florida-republican-women-say-they-will-switch-parties-after-desantis-approves-alimony-law-34563230
Jackie
@sab: Biden is HEALTHIER than TIFG because of genetics, diet and exercise.
Biden is better than TIFG for MANY reasons, and I’m sure you’re aware of them.
Another Scott
@Adam L Silverman: Ah, thanks.
Horrible.
A ProPublica (or local equivalent) investigation of how many GQPers are supposed to be paying alimony might be instructive. The GQP seems to only pass bills that benefit them personally or their donors personally…
Grr…,
Scott.
different-church-lady
@Frankensteinbeck: They were making cartoons.
Cartoons.
different-church-lady
@Shakti: Naw, can’t believe felons make up 4% of the electorate.
Then again, Florida I suppose…
different-church-lady
@Brachiator:
Krazy Kat was an insane cartoon cat.
Adam L Silverman
@different-church-lady: When he first ran, while he’d been Freedom Caucus adjacent/in the Freedom Caucus, he presented as a more George HW Bush type of Republican. His veteran status also helped. The first few things he did after getting elected and sworn in were not really to far off things that Jeb did or would’ve done when he was governor. And then he leaned into the legislation to subvert the voter referendum to restore felon’s voting rights. Once he realized, or his wife realized or they both realized, that he could basically lean hard into kulturkampf and, by doing so, completely cow the GOP majority state legislature, he did. He’s also captured the state courts through appointing judges. So not only is Florida a one party state, but the governor completely controls – for now – all three branches of the state government. So there are no state level checks and balances. And given that he’s happy to use his executive powers in ways that no other Florida governor has – such as exercising the right to remove municipal and special district officials not for malfeasance or incompetence, but simply for holding different views on issues and belonging to the opposition party – municipal officials have largely decided to keep their heads down and their mouths shut. As a result, Florida is now being run as a herrenvolk democracy on behalf of about 48% of the state citizenry in service of DeSantis’s political ambitions. And Chris Rufo’s too.
Sure Lurkalot
@M31:
annnnnd…that’s on his good day.
sdhays
Florida voters didn’t care that they were pulling people off the streets to teach K-12, so why not universities too? Innovation! And think of all those taxpayer dollars saved when universities shut down because they’ve lost their accreditation.
Of course, no one is really going to notice the huge ramifications for the entire state until it’s far too late.
David Anderson
@Adam L Silverman: I was at a national conference last week and the most common after session discussion topic was who to poach from UF, FSU, UCF and UT as anyone with options is looking to use them
Adam L Silverman
@David Anderson: Not surprising at all.
The Lodger
@mrmoshpotato: Besides, it’s duck season.
zhena gogolia
@MazeDancer: Oh, that’s a good one!
zhena gogolia
@different-church-lady: Are you aware of the concept of the symbolic?
RaflW
“…the perceived anti-higher education atmosphere in the state.”
This implies there’s a misperception. But just the mere fact that Rufo is a board member of a 4 year state college in Florida means that higher ed is in fact under attack in FL.
scav
@RaflW: Just anti-higher education atmosphere? They seem to attacking anything down to and including kindergarten. So, effectively, anything beyond potty-training is higher to his mind.
P Thomas
Academics, of course, are important.
But, wait for the college sports recruits who hesitate to go to Florida or the other SEC colleges. Then the rednecks will panic!
Darkrose
@Adam L Silverman: CA also requires a loyalty oath to work for the state, including all levels of higher education; I had to sign one for the state community colleges, CSU, and UC.
Which is why the guy suing the UC system because UC Santa Cruz wanted a DEI statement is such a dipshit. He was bleating about how it’s an “Orwellian” loyalty oath. No, the statment you would sign if you got the job, swearing to uphold and defend the constitution of California? That is a loyalty oath.
Paul in KY
@caphilldcne: Orange Beach is quite nice!
Paul in KY
@different-church-lady: Not really a cat, but a magical being who appeared in cat form.