The latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll of 404 likely Hawkeye State caucus participants finds Ron DeSantis 27 points behind Donald Trump and tied at 16% with Nikki Haley.
However, the new ad (“Fight. Win. Lead.”) from the DeSantis campaign looks to tell a different story, one of the Florida Governor leading while President Joe Biden dithered on issues such as Israeli evacuation flights, rebuilding a bridge quickly after Hurricane Ian, and having “deployed troops” to the Mexican border.
“From sending planes to Israel to bring Americans home to safety, to rebuilding bridges in the days following a hurricane, he is the leader we need during in a time of crisis,” reads the ad summary from the DeSantis campaign.
The spot is airing in Iowa with a $320,000 ad buy starting Thursday (one day before the Governor’s supportive Super PAC, Never Back Down, is staging another tour of the state with DeSantis). And it comes along with talking points for certain key supporters making the Governor’s case in the Hawkeye State in the days ahead.
One such messaging highlight is that the rumors of the campaign’s decline are exaggerated.
“The campaign’s ability to begin television advertising weeks earlier than originally planned is evidence of its strong fundraising pace in the fourth quarter, which only continues to accelerate,” reads the email from Communications Director Andrew Romeo.
Additionally, supporters are urged to suggest that this ad will help reverse the prevalent polling trend in the race.
“If Donald Trump loses Iowa to Ron DeSantis, he is in huge trouble,” Romeo asserted.
The “surprise ad buy in Iowa comes on the heels of MAGA Inc’s move to drastically shift their strategy and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new negative ad against DeSantis in Iowa,” and the “more voters see that Ron DeSantis is the proven, consistent leader who will follow through on his promises to reverse America’s decline, the more Team Trump scrambles to beat back DeSantis’ growing momentum.”
For its part, the Trump campaign continues to mock DeSantis’ so-called “Bootgate,” making the case that the Governor’s shoes are hiding “lifts” and suggesting that footwear will be used to define DeSantis rather than fighting, winning or leading.
“America knows Ron DeSantis loves boots (with lifts inside of them) and Puerto Rican statehood, so we couldn’t think of a better early Christmas gift to the governor than a pair of Puerto Rican flag boots. We are willing to give the boots as a ‘loan’ so that the governor can get around Florida gift laws and accept the boots like he accepted a golf simulator from a wealthy donor,” snarked Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for Make America Great Again Inc.
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