WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — With less than three months to go before the Hawkeye State caucuses, several GOP presidential candidates are heading back to Iowa.
At this point, however, there’s former President Donald Trump and the race for second place.
Former United Nations Secretary Nikki Haley has planned several stops across the Hawkeye State on Friday and Saturday. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis this weekend continues his pursuit of campaigning in all of Iowa’s 99 counties. Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is barnstorming the kickoff caucus state with a three-day, 10-city swing. And U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) launches “The Good News Bus Tour” on Friday, coming to seven Iowa cities through Tuesday.
Scott said the bus tour will bring his “positive, optimistic message to caucus-goers across the Hawkeye State.”
“Iowans are ready to end the Biden retreat, stand loyal with our allies, and protect the American dream for the next generation. We have good news, we just need a President willing to speak the truth and share it,” Scott said in a press release.
Here’s the bad news for Scott and the rest of the still-crowded field of Republican presidential hopefuls: With 88 days to go before the January 15 Iowa caucuses, none of them has made any real inroads on Trump’s gargantuan lead in the polls.
As of Wednesday, Trump was outpacing his closest competitor, DeSantis, by 45 percentage points. Trump was polling at 58 percent to the Florida governor’s 13.1 percent, according to RealClearPolitics’ latest average of national Republican presidential nomination polls.
Haley, who has spent the last few weeks boasting about her surge in the polls, is lagging Trump by more than 50 points, at 7.7 percent, followed by Ramaswamy (6 percent) and former Vice President Mike Pence (3.8 percent). Scott, at 2 percent, is behind former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (2.8 percent), who hasn’t even bothered to campaign in Iowa.
The gap is a little more promising in Iowa, where Trump leads by 33 percentage points, at 50.3 percent to DeSantis’ 17.3 percent. Haley is in third place (9.5 percent), followed by Ramaswamy and Scott, both at 6 percent, according to the average of Iowa caucus polls.
“After two televised debates and months of campaigning in two key states, the Republican race has shifted little. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems weaker, while Haley appears stronger. But three longer shots — [North Dakota Gov. Doug] Burgum, Pence, and Scott — have shown little or no ability to improve their positioning,” Stuart Rothenberg wrote in Roll Call earlier this month.
He urgently concluded, “Time is running out for them.”
Indeed. And the candidates lagging Trump have definitely picked up the pace and frequency of their campaign swings in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. It seems everywhere they campaign, the long and longer shots have failed to convince a significant number of voters why they are a better alternative to Trump.
DeSantis, who is scheduled to be in Dubuque, Iowa, on Saturday for a Veterans for DeSantis Dubuque County campaign event, is on a multi-city swing through South Carolina this week.
Haley is scheduled to make four Hawkeye State stops on Friday and Saturday, including events with U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ (R-IA-01) annual tailgate in Iowa City.
Ramaswamy also will be at Miller-Meeks’ tailgate on Friday, part of a four-city swing through Iowa that day.
There should be much to discuss. Miller-Meeks was among 22 House Republicans on Wednesday to vote against Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) for Speaker of the House — leaving the leadership post vacant for another day.
Trump was in Iowa earlier this week and plans to be back at the end of the month for a rally in Sioux City.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Nikki Haley” by Nikki Haley.
