All the candidates on the debate stage Wednesday night will hope for a breakout moment, but the brightest spotlight will likely shine on Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).
As the highest-polling candidate who is attending, DeSantis will be positioned in the middle of the stage and is sure to get some shade thrown his way over the course of the night."Every candidate on and off the debate stage will have their knives out for Ron DeSantis because they know this is a two-man race," campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo said."If DeSantis wasn't the best candidate to beat Joe Biden, Donald Trump wouldn't have spent over $20 million attacking him.
Yet the wider trend for DeSantis has been overwhelmingly negative since he became a candidate in May. His national polling peaked at just over 30% in the spring, and he sits at less than 15% today."I think DeSantis is by far the most popular Republican amongst the most conservative activists in Iowa," said GOP strategist John Feehery."And I don’t think that the polling adequately shows how popular he is with that crowd.
"It will introduce them to the wider public," she said, naming former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as a potential breakout star of the evening. That take is similar to the view of conservative commentator and activist Erick Erickson, who hosted a Trump-free event in Georgia last week.
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