The 2024 Republican primary
is clearly heating up right now.
Presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis
front and center energy
evangelical conference today
touting new policies.
CNN's Christine
Romans has more on
the Florida
governor's fight
to keep up with Donald Trump.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
among a handful of 20, 24 GOP hopefuls
aiming to woo evangelical voters outside
Washington, D.C. Monday.
We will never waver in our defense.
Of Israel
as candidates
work to pitch themselves
as an alternative
to frontrunner, former President
Donald Trump.
So many people run for office
and they promise big things
and then they under deliver
on their promises.
That's not what we do
in Florida and Florida.
We do make bold promises,
but we overdeliver on our promises.
As the race to win
the Republican nomination heats up,
with presidential hopefuls
hitting the campaign trail
as commander in chief on day one.
We worry about the political agenda
out of the military
and the airwaves this weekend.
And so you're leading people by 50
and 60 points
and you say,
why would you be doing a debate
he should show up at the debates
and defend this record.
Some candidates, including Trump,
speaking to young conservatives
at the Turning Point Action
Conference in Florida,
taking aim at top rival Ron DeSantis,
who skipped the home state event.
I don't know why he's not here
this couple of days,
but he should be here.
He should be here representing himself.
The Florida governor
campaigning in Iowa,
in Tennessee, and downplaying
Trump's lead in the polls.
At the end of the day,
the bragging date men just elevated him
and there was a lot of sympathy.
But then I think
just dominating the media coverage,
I had gotten a lot of coverage
in the aftermath of the midterm election.
We always knew with these national polls
that that was a sugar high.
The money race also coming into focus
as candidates filed their latest campaign
finance reports.
DeSantis report
showing his campaign
burning through cash at a rapid rate,
raising $20 million,
but already spending nearly
8 million, including $1 million
each on travel and payroll
and another 800,000 on digital
fundraising consulting.
DeSantis contrasting his haul with Trump.
We raised more money than Donald
Trump did.
Into his campaign, who,
of course, was the former president.
The former president's report
showing his campaign
raised $17.7 million
in the second quarter,
leaving it
with $22.5 million cash on hand
at the end of June.
South Carolina Senator
Tim Scott
just behind him
with $21.1 million
after raising nearly 6 million
over the last three months
after announcing his White House
bid last month.
Former Vice President Mike Pence
getting off to a slow start,
bringing in less than $1.2 million,
placing him near the back of the pack.
And, Wolf, Republicans
aren't the only ones making 20.
24 news.
Democratic Senator of West Virginia
Joe Manchin was openly flirting
with a third party
presidential bid tonight
at a campaign style
event in New Hampshire.
It was a town hall held by No Labels,
which is a bi partizan nonprofit group
that is considering
putting forward
a, quote,
unity ticket
to give Americans a third option
out of your south side
of your traditional Democratic
and Republican nominee.
Now, Manchin
insisted
that he hadn't made a decision yet,
but did not rule out
that he would have
a run,
that he would run,
that he would be part of this third
party ticket.
I talked to an adviser just moments ago
a Democratic adviser,
who said that this made them
very uncomfortable,
despite the fact that Manchin had not yet
decided.
They said that this would take away votes
from President Joe Biden
and even the consideration around
that was making him very nervous.
Kristen Holmes reporting for us.
Thank you.
I want to bring in our
political commentators right now
to discuss Scott Jennings and Ashley
Allison are joining us.
Ashley,
how much should Democrats
actually be concerned
by Senator Manchin
flirting with a No Labels third party bid
Well, I mean, if he's
just thinking
about the idea as Democrats,
I don't think we
should get overly concerned.
But if he actually jumps into the race,
we know historically,
if you look back at a Ralph Nader
or Jill Stein there
eligibility in the Democratic
Party's favor.
So I would be concerned
if they actually jumped in the race,
the conversation of it.
I mean, I understand
why they think they need to have a
No Labels third party ticket.
But right now,
they aren't actually on a lot of ballots.
And so thinking about
it is not as bad as Jeff again.
But if they don't,
then I would be concerned
that you would take away votes.
No doubt about that.
Scott, in the GOP primary,
DeSantis is
touting a bigger fundraising haul
than Trump or Biden, for that matter.
But his campaign is burning through cash
big time,
maxing out donors and laying off staff.
So how should we read these numbers?
Well, I think I would
look at
the candidates
that are going to have enough money
to operate
and be in the race
for a long time
versus the candidates
in their finance reports
that look like
they may not be able to make it
until the end of the year,
obviously on the lower
end of the Republican scale.
Mike Pence, Asa
Hutchinson and some others,
they had a really tough time.
Ron DeSantis, yes,
he did burn through a lot of cash,
but between what he has left,
what he can raise,
and then once in his super PAC,
it's obvious that he and Tim Scott
and probably Nikki
Haley and probably
and certainly Donald Trump,
they're going to have plenty of money
to operate
at least through Iowa
and then and beyond.
So, you know, the question
for the Republicans, Wolf, is do
they want to do Trump or not?
And once we clear that threshold,
who's left to take on Trump?
DeSantis will have the money
to be in that conversation.
Ashley, by contrast,
President Biden
has spent just over $1,000,000 so far
and only has four staffers
on his campaign payroll.
Should he be stepping up his campaign
by now?
No.
I think
what the
Biden campaign is doing right now
is pretty on par with most
what most reelections
do for the presidency.
They're getting their infrastructure
together in the summer,
having their top leadership in place,
focusing on fundraising earlier
on, rather than building
the larger infrastructure.
But surely before
the beginning of 20, 24,
you will start to see staff in state
building that grassroots infrastructure
and then definitely a more robust
national committee
But right now, the Biden administration
is more focused on governing
as the campaign
just began
to put its
initial infrastructure in place.
You know, Scott
DeSantis is shifting his strategy
to a two term mainstream media tour
about policy,
starting with our own
Jake Tapper tomorrow.
But one political expert
says that I'm quoting now,
The race is not about who has the best
tax plan.
The race is Trump, yes or no?
Is that true?
Yeah, I do.
I do think
there's a lot of truth in that.
I mean,
if the Republican Party
are more than half of
it wants to do Donald Trump again,
it really won't matter what
Ron DeSantis
or anybody else does,
because obviously he's
going to march to the nomination
rather easily.
A lot of Republicans say
they want to consider other people.
But when you look at the surveys right
now, Donald Trump is still dominating.
So I think Ron
DeSantis is doing what he needs
to do
to keep himself
as the principal alternative in the event
that Trump becomes
too toxic for most Republicans,
that hasn't happened yet.
But there's a lot of runway between now
and Iowa,
Scott Jennings and actually, Alisyn.
Guys, thank you very much.