The campaign manager for Barack Obama’s White House run reacted to Monday’s Iowa caucus results by declaring that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ hopes for the presidency have been squashed, and if he were to remain in the race, he would effectively be “a ghost roaming the country.”
David Plouffe, who helped propel Obama to victory over Hillary Clinton in Iowa’s 2008 Democratic contest, said on MSNBC that DeSantis’ distant finish behind Donald Trump wasn’t going to cut it. Later on Monday, DeSantis was predicted by The New York Times and other outlets to take second place behind Trump, barely nudging above opponent Nikki Haley, who placed third.
“We can always be surprised in politics, but I think DeSantis’ road ends tonight. I mean, this was his only hope, and he’s going to end up being beat by 30 points,” Plouffe said.
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DeSantis had made substantial investments in Iowa, acquiring the endorsement of the state’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds, and managing to visit all 99 counties. Iowa’s evangelical population was also considered a constituency where he could pick up ground.
Looking forward, Plouffe then pointed to DeSantis’ polling numbers in New Hampshire—in the single digits, according to FiveThirtyEight’s polling average—as an additional reason for the governor’s campaign to be hearing sirens.
“He’s got nothing going on in New Hampshire,” said Plouffe, ahead of the Granite state’s primary next Tuesday. In fact, DeSantis is scheduled to go from Iowa to South Carolina first before flying up to New Hampshire.
“Hard to believe he can do any better than a poor third in South Carolina,” he continued. “So, he may stay in—he’s kind of a ghost roaming in the country.”
Plouffe then offered a less pleasant visual to sum up DeSantis’ performance.
“The political graveyard is littered with people who look like on paper they would be strong presidential candidates, but having gone through this, I mean, this is basically like a searing, proctological exam beamed into every home,” he said.
“And very few people come out whole on the other side. And he was diminished by this. And so, I think at the end of the day, yes, he started off strong. Clearly, Trump’s indictments helped him. But DeSantis never could basically occupy that stage, and he was just not a strong performer,” he continued.
As for Haley, New Hampshire is a must-win, Plouffe said.
The former South Carolina governor has seen a recent uptick in support there, with one poll released last Thursday showing her at 28 percent and Trump at 44 percent.
