More numerous and smaller events — aspects promised in Gov. Ron DeSantis campaign reboot — materialized in points on the map this week, with a restaurant, a distillery, and a coffee shop on the agenda.
The Never Back Down super PAC announced a bus tour with special guest DeSantis starting Thursday morning when the candidate touches down in Des Moines. The tour will go 154 miles with three stops over 12 hours in the southern part of the Hawkeye State.
A meet and greet will get underway at noon at a bar and grill in Chariton; head to a town hall at an Osceola distillery to the west and swing 80 miles east where the tour wraps for another meet and greet at an Oskaloosa coffee before DeSantis will head to Friday’s sold-out Iowa GOP Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines.
The tour stops come as circumstances are looking more dire for DeSantis’ prospects in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. A Fox Business survey released on Sunday reveals DeSantis just five points of South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, with DeSantis polling at 16% support. Scott had been in the single digits.
Trump is polling at an average of 31 percentage points more than DeSantis in Iowa, after one April poll showed the Florida Governor coming within 7 percentage points of Trump’s support, 37%-30%, according to Real Clear Politics.
Although DeSantis visited Iowa before declaring his presidential intentions on May 24, it’s the third time Candidate DeSantis has visited Iowa since then, hitting 10 events with Iowa residents, the Des Moines Register reports. That’s more than Trump’s schedule, but Iowa Republicans told the newspaper that DeSantis has to pick up the pace if he wants to overtake the former President.
The Lincoln Day event in Des Moines, where DeSantis’ Iowa whirl this week is scheduled to end, is sold out. Attendees could have bought a table for up to $10,000 that gets them “premier seating” and tickets for 10 to a host reception that also features the other leading Republican presidential candidates including No. 1 in the polls.
The trip represents the blurring of lines between the campaign and the candidate’s PAC which has amassed more than $130 million to spend on the campaign.
___
Florida Politics A.G. Gancarski contributed to this report.
The post Ron DeSantis hits the Iowa road with Never Back Down super PAC tour this week appeared first on Florida Politics – Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government..