On Tuesday, Charles Hurt — the Fox News Channel contributor — went on Fox Business to discuss the Iowa caucus, set to take place on Jan. 15.
Hurt spoke to Fox Business host Ashley Webster, and Hurt singled out the DeSantis campaign as “truly terrible” and as “the most disappointing campaign, mechanics-wise, that I think I’ve ever seen.”
However, Hurt left open the possibility of growth for rival candidate Nikki Haley.
Webster began with a request for “30 seconds on DeSantis.”
“He’s visited like all 90-odd counties in Iowa, spent a lot of time,” Webster said. “A third of his staff have moved to Iowa. Doesn’t seem to be making a lot of impact. Doesn’t get the traction I thought he would get.”
Hurt didn’t hold back.
“No, it’s truly amazing, especially when you look at the record he’s established in Florida. But he has run a truly terrible campaign,” Hurt said. “The more you look under the hood at the mechanics — of the way they’ve spent money, the way they’ve raised money, the way they’ve operated — it is the most disappointing campaign, mechanics-wise, that I think I’ve ever seen.”
Webster also asked about former Gov. Nikki Haley.
“Nikki Haley has new life in Iowa after getting backed by a super PAC founded by the Koch brothers. So, she’s got the money to spend. But according to RealClearPolitics, she trails Trump by over 35 points in Iowa.” Webster said. “Is it too late for Haley in Iowa?”
Hurt acknowledged the perception of Haley’s campaign as “safe” and “respectable,” but he also called Trump’s lead “insurmountable.”
“I don’t know if it’s too late or just insurmountable from the beginning. At the beginning of all this, it was anybody’s guess whether or not Republicans would be exhausted with the Trump, everything dealing with Trump. As it turns out, what is becoming pretty clear and — I guess — has been for a couple of months now, is that they’re not,” Hurt said.
“They look at the ways that the political system has gone after Donald Trump, and they’re appalled at the political system, not Trump. And what they want is a fighter. And obviously the Koch brothers and other huge-money donors, who got behind DeSantis, they’ll get behind anybody to stand up to Donald Trump because they want a safer pick.”
In the poll aggregate cited by Fox Business, Haley was set to come in third in Iowa, one point behind DeSantis.
Haley is polling better in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary. However, she trails Trump by dozens of points in national polling, and she’s even struggling in her home state, the early-voting South Carolina.
The former govenor has watched her home state shift closer to Trump since her last run for state office nearly 10 years ago. With her local roots threatened, Haley can hardly secure a grip.
“Ten years is an eternity when all politics are national,” Matt Moore, a former state GOP chairman, told the Associated Press. “Trump tapped into thousands of low-frequency voters who have reshaped South Carolina politics. Many of them weren’t focused on state-level issues prior, or even now.”
South Carolina’s lieutenant governor, state treasurer, attorney general and three of its six Republican U.S. House members all back Trump. The only congressman to endorse Haley is Rep. Ralph Norman, a longtime ally.
Losing South Carolina would be a huge blow to Haley’s campaign, which is counting on outlasting rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and picking up momentum from people open to a Trump alternative. A home state primary loss has devastated previous campaigns, including Rubio, who dropped out of the 2016 primary after a blowout loss to Trump in Florida. Sen. Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the 2020 Democratic race after losing several primaries in one day, including in her home state of Massachusetts.
“Nikki Haley might end up surprising everybody [but] if everybody just keeps coming in, doing a really respectable second-place, at the end of it, you’re going to be in a second place,” Hurt said. It’s just a slow death instead of a quick death.”
Take a look —
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2yRP_KEbRQ
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.