It’s cleanup time for Ron DeSantis’ gaffe-prone campaign in Iowa, but this time the Florida governor was not to blame. Instead, it was Florida’s first lady, Casey DeSantis, who created another fine mess.
On Friday, the couple sat down for a side-by-side interview on Fox News ahead of a “Mamas for DeSantis” event in West DesMoines,
CNN reported.
Casey DeSantis got perhaps a little too excited and said:
“We’re asking all of these moms and grandmoms to come from wherever it might be, North Carolina, South Carolina and to descend upon the state of Iowa to be a part of the caucus, because you do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus. So, moms and grandmas are going to be able to come and be a part and let their voice be heard in support of Ron DeSantis.”
The only problem is that it would be voter fraud for non-Iowa residents to cast ballots in the caucuses.
So Casey DeSantis put out a cleanup post on X, formerly known as Twitter, several hours after the event to clarify that by participating, she didn’t mean voting:
“While voting in the Iowa caucus is limited to registered voters in Iowa, there is a way for others to participate. I’m calling on mamas and grandmamas from all over the country to come volunteer in support of Ron DeSantis in the Iowa caucus.”
Ron DeSantis then engaged in further cleanup. CNN wrote:
Speaking to reporters after the event, the Florida governor denied that his wife was encouraging people to illegally vote in the January 15 caucus, as some Trump-aligned users were suggesting on X. ...
“We really appreciate Casey and everything she’s doing, as well as Gov. (Kim) Reynolds. They are launching nationwide recruitment for people who are about to come from the Mamas’ movement to volunteer for the caucus,” Ron DeSantis told reporters before taking questions.
“Obviously, you can’t vote in the caucus, but you can help with it. They even let people go and speak on behalf of candidates, and they have all these precincts, so you may have people who really can speak strongly about our leadership that are going to come.”
The Iowa Republican Party felt it needed to issue a statement to remind caucus-goers: “You must be a legal resident of Iowa and the precinct you live in and bring photo ID with you to participate in the #iacaucus!”
But that didn’t stop the Trump campaign from taking advantage of the opportunity to accuse DeSantis of attempting to rig the caucuses.
According to Politico, the Trump campaign issued a statement that read:
“The Trump campaign strongly condemns their dirty and illegal tactics and implores all Trump supporters to be aware of the DeSantises’ openly stated plot to rig the Caucus through fraud.”
The statement also called on Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has endorsed DeSantis, to clarify the caucus rules and that “the instructions given by the DeSantises are flagrantly wrong” and “could further disenfranchise caucus-goers.”
Politico also reported that the Trump-aligned Make America Great Again PAC had issued a statement claiming that Casey DeSantis was engaged in voter fraud.
“Casey DeSantis’ embrace of voter fraud to salvage her husband’s failing campaign is not just wrong, it risks compromising the integrity of the Iowa Caucus,” said spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in the statement.
All of this is just another embarrassment for DeSantis, who has made perceived election fraud an issue during his second term as governor.
He created a new Office of Election Crimes even though there was little evidence of voter fraud. And in August the election crimes unit charged 20 people with alleged voter fraud election fraud even though many of those arrested said they thought they were eligible to vote, despite past felony convictions, because the state had issued them a voter registration card.
This latest kerfuffle can’t help DeSantis just weeks before the lead off Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses.
The 538 average of polls for the Iowa Republican caucus shows Trump with 45.9%, with DeSantis a distant second at 19.7%. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is right on his heels with 17.5%. Back in early June, DeSantis was polling at 27.7% and it’s been downhill ever since.
That;s not good because DeSantis has focused his campaign on Iowa, boasting that he has visited all 99 counties.