As Audrey noted below, DeSantis is likely to spend much of this debate doing everything he can to arrest Haley’s momentum – both her modest velocity in early state polls and the energy Chris Christie’s exit from the race has provided the former South Carolina governor’s boosters. Haley is likely to counterpunch, and she’ll probably throw her own jabs in DeSantis’s direction, too. But Haley could better capitalize on the expectations she’s courting by training most of her fire on the absent frontrunner for the Republican nomination. In doing so, she would make her counterpart on that stage appear small and hidebound, a contrast from which Haley would benefit.
A debate between DeSantis & Haley tonight, with the two of them the last Republicans standing, would be fascinating & bound to produce some serious and consequential exchanges.
Instead, both candidates are desperately trying to attract the attention of Republican primary voters who have not only tuned out both of them, but have also tuned out Donald Trump and are focused solely on Trump’s enemies. If this debate consists largely of increasingly shrill pandering from both candidates, it’s due to that dynamic.
Expect Desantis to hit Haley on the debate stage tonight for joking that New Hampshire will “correct” the result in the Iowa caucuses. The Florida governor’s campaign and the Desantis-aligned Fight Right super PAC are both running ads on those comments this week ahead of Monday’s contest, as NR reported last night.
Chris Christie stepped all over his own noble exit from the 2024 race with a graceless series of attacks on his fellow anti-Trump presidential aspirants – a speech that confirmed the sincerity of Christie’s already notorious “hot mic” moment. Today’s developments will surely find their way into tonight’s proceedings. Haley will be tempted to court Christie’s voters by praising his integrity and record, but she shouldn’t risk appearing mechanical and overprogrammed by refusing to acknowledge what we all heard. “I’ve been underestimated before” or something along these lines would help defuse the attack while also conveying to voters that Haley is human, too.