The 2024 election season kicked off in full force last night up in Iowa, where the quadrennial caucuses yielded no surprise in the #1 slot for the Republican Party as Donald Trump, the once and “wannabe” President of the United States, dominated the field by earning 51 percent of the vote.
In the battle for the crucial second slot, Florida Governor Ronald Desantis narrowly clipped former South Carolina Governor (and U.N. Ambassador) Nimarata “Nikki” Haley with 21.2 percent of the vote as compared to Haley’s 19.1 percent.
Billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, the child of immigrants who spent a good part of his fortune and time over the past six months trying to convince Iowa voters that he is the best candidate to lead the Republican Party, finished in fourth place after earning 7.7 percent of the vote; Ramaswamy profusely thanked his supporters before dropping out of the race and endorsing Donald Trump late yesterday evening.
The question now becomes, who drops out next?
The proverbial “elephant in the room” (pun intended) is that once Mr. Trump declared his candidacy back in 2022, there was an air of inevitability at play that he and President Joe Biden would square off in a 2024 general election rematch due to the vise grip hold that he has on the hearts and minds of the majority of his fellow Republicans.
That said, while Mr. Desantis is the first candidate I can think of that tried to spin a 30 point loss into a victory, I submit that when considering the amount of time he spent in Iowa since last May—hosting over 138 events in total—that he did no better against Trump, a man facing four criminal trials this year, reinforces the conventional wisdom that Desantis grossly overestimated his chances when choosing to run against his former mentor.
Last, while Ms. Haley finished third, hers was actually a solid showing when realizing that she spent far less time barnstorming in Iowa as compared to Trump and Desantis; Haley has spent quite a bit of time up in New Hampshire, and it will be interesting to see whether she can actually finish in first place in the more moderate New England state that has fewer hardcore MAGA mob members, and on her home turf—South Carolina—during its upcoming primary.
Still, should Desantis finish behind Haley and Trump in New Hampshire, I suspect that his candidacy’s days are numbered. While most pundits felt that the staunchly conservative Desantis would perform well among white Evangelicals in Iowa, the knock turned out to be what we here in Florida have realized since his piss poor debate performances against Andrew Gillum way back in 2018, which is that Desantis is as wooden as a Nutcracker toy soldier, that he possesses a fake smile in public that gives off Wednesday Addams vibes, and he looks as if he would rather be having a colonoscopy than shaking hands and talking to people on the stump.
And in a shocker (sarcasm), Desantis took the mic last night and blamed the media for his poor Iowa showing, which is par for the course for people of his ilk who refuse to look in the mirror and recognize where they have erred!
Oh well…
As always, stay tuned to the Hobbservation Point for the latest political news and analysis!
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By Chuck Hobbs · Hundreds of paid subscribers
“Real Politics in Real Time”
Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
"Real Politics in Real Time"
Chuck Hobbs is a freelance journalist who won the 2010 Florida Bar Media Award and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary.
