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WASHINGTON - Seeking to retool his presidential bid, Ron DeSantis took to cable
news Tuesday to play down his campaign's problems and frontrunner Donald Trump's
legal issues.

“I wanna focus on looking forward - I don’t wanna look back,” DeSantis told CNN
in an interview scheduled amid falling poll numbers and organizational issues
facing the Florida governor.




Saying he was an underdog during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, DeSantis said:
“They’ve been saying that I’ve been doing poorly for my whole time as governor,
basically."

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'CRIMINALIZING POLITICAL DIFFERENCES'

Speaking shortly after Trump announced he may soon be indicted again, DeSantis
criticized Trump's actions regarding the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021; he also
accused government authorities of "weaponizing" law enforcement against the
former president.



Trump has already been indicted twice this year: a federal case in Florida over
classified documents and a state case in New York regarding hush money. DeSantis
was particularly critical of the New York case, saying prosecutors are
stretching the law to implicate the former president.

"So here's the problem," DeSantis told CNN. "This country is going down the road
of criminalizing political differences."

Trump announced on his Truth Social website he had received a "target letter"
regarding the investigation into efforts to overturn his 2020 loss to President
Joe Biden. The investigation also centers on the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.

The former president enjoys huge national poll leads against DeSantis and other
Republican challengers; DeSantis told CNN he is doing better in individual state
polls.




DESANTIS CAMPAIGN PROBLEMS



DeSantis appeared on CNN amid falling poll numbers, high spending rates, and
layoffs of campaign staff members.

DeSantis said he is building a campaign for the long term, right up to the Iowa
caucuses on Jan. 15.

Tactics include voter turnout operations in key states, particularly early state
contests like Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina.

"This is a state-by-state process," DeSantis said.

Moving forward, DeSantis also plans to draw policy contrasts with Trump on
issues like border security and the economy. The governor also plans to speak
more with the mainstream media, such as CNN.

The Trump challenger sat down with CNN during a visit to South Carolina, where
he filed for the state primary in February and delivered a speech decrying
"woke" programs in the U.S. military.




'COME OUT MORE FORCEFULLY'

Speaking early in the day with reporters in South Carolina, DeSantis said Trump
should have acted quicker and "come out more forcefully" against rioters who
stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“I think it was shown how he was in the White House and didn’t do anything while
things were going on," DeSantis said. "He should have come out more
forcefully…but to try to criminalize that that’s a different issue entirely.”

Trump allies denounced DeSantis' criticism. Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung
called it "a disqualifying take from an unserious candidate in the last throes
of his failed candidacy."




CHRISTIE, HUTCHINSON

Other candidates further back in the Republican pack criticized Trump and said
he has brought his legal problems on himself.



Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, also a former prosecutor, said he wants
to see a specific Jan. 6 indictment before commenting on the merits of the case
against Trump.

On Twitter, Christie added that, case or no case, "his conduct on January 6th
proves he doesn’t care about our country & our Constitution."

Asa Hutchinson, R-Ark., a former governor, congressman, and prosecutor based in
Arkansas, said Trump's handling of Jan. 6 disqualify him from the presidency. He
dismissed Trump's cries of victimhood.

"The real victims of January 6th were our democracy, our rule of law, and those
Capitol Police officers who worked valiantly to protect our Capitol," he said.

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Trump's legal problems will dominate
the campaign. "That's why I am running - because we need a new generational
leader," Haley told Fox News. "We can't keep dealing with this drama."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Looking forward:' Ron DeSantis
downplays campaign problems and Trump's indictments




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Donald Trump has one path to winning the 2024 presidential election — that is,
of course, if he wins the GOP nomination and avoids a federal criminal
conviction. It’s the same path that helped him win in 2016. Ironically, he has
virtually no control over that path, because it depends on someone else — a
viable third-party candidate.



Neither Trump nor President Joe Biden is popular with voters. A recent Morning
Consult poll found that in a Biden-Trump rematch, 43 percent of registered
voters say they would support Biden, while 42 percent would support Trump.
Importantly, 10 percent said they would support someone else and 5 percent
didn’t know.

Of course, it’s not the popular vote that wins presidential elections. It’s the
Electoral College.

Trump won in 2016 primarily because he added three states (Pennsylvania,
Michigan and Wisconsin) to the Republican column that had voted Democratic in
presidential elections for decades. But rather than saying Trump “won” those
three states, it’s probably more accurate to say third-party candidates cost
Clinton those states.

Trump won Pennsylvania by 47,292 votes, Michigan by 10,704 votes, and Wisconsin
by 22,748 — the slimmest of margins. He did not reach 50 percent in any of them.
This is because both the Libertarian Party candidate, Gary Johnson, and the
Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, attracted many more votes than third (or
fourth) parties usually do.

Johnson garnered 3.3% of the vote nationwide. He received 172,136 votes (3.6%)
in Michigan, 146,715 votes (2.4%) in Pennsylvania, and 106,674 votes in
Wisconsin (3.6%). While Johnson may have siphoned off some anti-Trump
Republicans, his more liberal-leaning positions on social issues may have
attracted a number of Democratic-leaning voters.

Moreover, though Stein’s vote tally was low, she received more votes than
Trump’s margin of victory in the three states: 51,463 for Stein in Michigan vs.
Trump’s margin of 10,704; 31,072 for Stein in Wisconsin vs. Trump’s 22,748, and
49,941 for Stein in Pennsylvania vs. Trump’s 47,292.

Without credible third-party candidates in 2016, Clinton likely would have won
Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin — and thus the presidency.




The 2020 presidential contest was different. Third-party candidates played a
smaller role. Only 1.8 percent voted for someone other than Trump or Biden. That
fact —plus Trump’s penchant for turning off independents, suburban women, and
many Republicans — cost him the election.



The 2024 campaign is gearing up and it’s possible, even probable, that the
country could see a Biden-Trump rematch — something most voters dread.

There are lots of GOP challengers for the presidential nomination, but so far
they haven’t gained much traction. Trump remains by far the preferred candidate
among Republicans, though not the public.

Trump’s support is an inch wide and a mile deep. His supporters are dedicated,
but there aren’t that many of them. By contrast, Biden’s support is a mile wide
and an inch deep. Millions of Americans voted for him because he wasn’t Trump.
And many of them could be persuaded to vote for someone else, such as a
reasonable third-party candidate, who also isn’t Trump.



How likely is it a third-party candidate will enter the race?

A bipartisan group called “No Labels” is meeting this week to consider the
current situation and discuss whether to support a third-party challenge. The
group includes some prominent political figures and financial backers.

Democrats are doing their best to dissuade the group from backing a third-party
challenge, claiming it would likely siphon votes from the Democratic candidate
and give Trump the win — just like 2016.

But while the No Labels crowd doesn’t like Trump, they are also concerned about
Biden’s age and dramatic shift to the left. They would rather see a reasonable,
and more politically moderate, third option.

In addition, leftist philosophy professor Cornel West is considering running as
the Green Party candidate for president. If that occurs, he would only attract
far-left voters who might otherwise vote for Biden. 

Without a viable third-party candidate, most voters would likely hold their nose
and vote for Biden again.

So, we may be back to a Biden-Trump rematch, with one or more third-party
candidates on the ballot. It’s hard to know how voters would respond to that
development, considering how little enthusiasm there is for such a rematch. But
if Trump has a chance of winning, the emergence of a viable third-party
candidate is likely his only path to victory.

Merrill Matthews is a resident scholar with the Institute for Policy Innovation
in Dallas, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @MerrillMatthews.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.




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