A former Republican presidential candidate is diagnosing issues with a 2024 hopeful’s campaign.
During an interview on Newsmax, Rick Santorum dissected issues with the faltering Ron DeSantis campaign, saying a lot of the problem came down to “message” and “ideas.”
“DeSantis has been under a microscope,” Santorum said.
He added that “every campaign has fits and starts and has message issues,” but for DeSantis, those issues have been compounded by the “intensity of media that is covering it.”
“And DeSantis, by being the alternative to Trump early on, really was in that fishbowl and he went through what I would argue almost every campaign goes. But in his case, every little glitch got major coverage.”
Santorum believes DeSantis hasn’t talked enough about issues, meanwhile.
“And one of the things that I think that DeSantis has been a little short on is, is really ideas and laying out his agenda,” Santorum added, saying he believes the Governor has “started to do (that in) the last couple of weeks.”
Santorum, who won 11 states in the 2012 GOP Primary campaign, said other candidates may pose threats to DeSantis.
One of them is Vivek Ramaswamy, who Santorum says has “connected with people in the early Primary states and he’s a dynamic personality,” a “young guy (who) has some really new and interesting ideas.”
Santorum also lauded former United Nations envoy Nikki Haley for her take on Social Security reform.
He also namechecked U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina as someone who could challenge DeSantis for second place, but with some caveats.
“If you look at Tim, his message is, you know, sort of repetitive. He doesn’t (get) off the script and that’s something he’s going to have to break away from if he’s going to break out,” Santorum said. “He’s got to be able to focus on different things, not just tell his story.”
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