Dem
51
GOP
49
Ron DeSantis is a terrible retail campaigner. When he is at a state fair and a voter offers to buy him a funnel cake, he is likely to decline and tell the voter why he hates the Woke Disney Corporation so much. Not since Al Gore has there been a major presidential candidate who was that bad at retail campaigning.
But DeSantis may have found a work-around: He is sending his wife, (Jill) Casey DeSantis, to meet the voters and do retail campaigning. On Friday she made her solo debut out on the trail. Up until now, she has appeared with him at every campaign event, but now she is going it alone.
A former television anchor, she is far better than her husband at meeting people, answering questions, and working crowds. She is also hugely determined to see him become president. She recently said: "As long as I have breath in my body, I will go out and I will fight for Ron DeSantis. Not because he's my husband. That is a part of it, but it's because I believe in him in every ounce of my being." OK, she's ambitious. But she has to be careful. She is already being compared to Lady Macbeth, and not in a good way.
As a breast cancer survivor and mother of three young children, she is expected to try to get suburban women to support DeSantis. One area where she will push hard is education, an area where her husband has been deeply involved—banning books and limiting what teachers can say in the classroom. The right-wing Moms for Liberty group has chapters in 44 states and we can certainly imagine Casey visiting many of them, asking for votes and donations. In fact, she even started her own group, Mamas for DeSantis. Its goal is to protect the innocence of children and the rights of parents. You want to see what this actually means? Take a look:
Maybe Casey is more poised and user-friendly than her hubby, but Lady Macbeth was a cuddly sweetie compared to Casey. Donald Trump is probably thinking: "I wish I had a wife like that. Maybe I should find one like that for #4." (V)