SOON TO BE A CANDIDATE: It;s becoming clear that Governor Ron DeSantis will be entering the race for the Republican presidential nomination, possibly this week or the week after.

Good.  Let's have a real contest for the Republican nomination.  The numbers and polls don't mean much at this point, and I want to see our side present its case and its best contenders.

There are no sure things here.  People who say Trump has the nomination in the bag don't realize how big the bag is and how bumpy a ride Trump will have.  He is both loved and despised, and faces serious legal challenges that can derail his quest for a second term.  Or...a great candidate can emerge.

On the socialist, uh, I mean Democratic side, the uncertainties seem to grow.  They revolve around the mental fitness of Joe Biden and the lack of mental of Kamala Harris, now playing the role of heiress to the throne.  The latest buzz, by the way, is that a plot is being hatched to draft Michelle Obama for president.   The theory is that it can happen if Biden's impairment gets worse, that he either steps aside or fades away, and that Harris herself realizes that her public unpopularity is too much to overcome.  I'm not so sure.  I'm really not sure that Michelle, however popular she is in some circles, is really seen as presidential material.  And I'm not sure that Kamala would go under the bus that easily.

One of the best reporters in the country, Salena Zito, has written a profile of DeSantis, and I thought it was worth quoting here.  From RealClearPolitics: 

This past weekend, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., reminded voters, and a skeptical press that has spent an inordinate amount of time writing his political obituary before he even launched his candidacy, that he not only possesses the promise and nimbleness needed to be a candidate for president but that he also has the staff and network needed to pull off just the right move to strike a blow against his rival, former President Donald Trump.

People underestimate DeSantis only at their own peril.

The Florida governor began the weekend Friday in Illinois as the keynote speaker at the Lincoln Day Dinner for Peoria and Tazewell counties. The Peoria Journal Star said he drew a crowd of more than 1,100 to the Peoria Civic Center.

Early Saturday morning, DeSantis started his first campaign event in Sioux Center, Iowa, as a guest at Rep. Randy Feenstra's annual Feenstra Family Picnic, spent time greeting folks at a classic car museum, stopped at a Pizza Ranch, and finished out the day at an unplanned event, standing on a table with his wife at Jethro's BBQ.

All of DeSantis's headline events went off without a hitch. In that regard, they were very similar to speeches I attended several weeks ago that he gave in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, and Akron, Ohio, where he was greeted with robust support after delivering speeches that outlined his aspirations for the country, his accomplishments as a governor and his promise to take on the cultural headwinds in our country.

DeSantis and Trump were scheduled on Saturday to be in Iowa, the state with the first-in-the-country contest for 2024, but Trump's team canceled the event after the threat of a tornado warning. DeSantis took full advantage of his absence with an impromptu stop in the same area Trump was supposed to be, thus casting shade on the former president, who has spent months maligning DeSantis's character.

"My better half and I have been able to be all over Iowa today, but before we went back to Florida, we wanted to come by and say hi to the people of Des Moines," DeSantis said to a cheering and surprised crowd at the barbecue as he and his wife Casey stood on a picnic table outside. "So thank you all for coming out. It's a beautiful night. It's been a great day for us."

COMMENT:  Read the rest.  I'm looking forward to this contest.  And, after all, the future of the country depends on it.

May 17, 2023