Predicting that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis will ride to an easy victory on Election Day is a no-brainer.
For the most part, he has been well ahead of his Republican turned independent turned Democrat Congressman Charlie Crist throughout the campaign.
If there was any hope that Crist could come from behind and procure an upset victory, that notion ended with the DeSantis/Crist debate. No spin by team-Crist – or fawning news reports from left-wing media – can change the fact. Crist lost.
Judging from the post-debate news coverage, the most dramatic point in the debate was when Crist challenged DeSantis to promise to complete his four-year term. DeSantis demurred. If Crist saw that as a pivotal moment in the debate, he had very little to offer. That is not on the radar of the voters.
In debates, opponents look for the weak spots in the opponents record and policies. Crist, however, seemed to raise and attack DeSantis in his more popular actions. DeSantis’ efforts to keep all sexually and gender-explicit material out of the curriculum of students in grades K through 4 has wide support even though critics have attempted to label it as an attack on the gay community.
Crist also carried the Democrat’s spin on DeSantis sending Texas Venezuelan migrants to northern communities – including the exclusive enclave of Martha’s Vineyard. Crist tried to use it as a wedge issue between DeSantis and the Florida Latino community – specifically Venezuelans.
In fact, DeSantis’ action brought greater focus on the border crisis and exposed the hypocrisy of northern Democrats. More than half of Florida Hispanics approve of the policy – and polls indicate that DeSantis is in line to receive more than 50 percent of the Latino vote.
Of course, Crist brought up abortion, claiming that DeSantis approved of an anti-abortion bill that had no exceptions for incest and rape. What Crist did not say was that the law only applied to abortions after 15 weeks — and that DeSantis has always favored the usual exceptions.
DeSantis countered by saying that Crist favored abortions up until birth – a charge that Crist did not deny. Polls show that most voters favor legal abortions but ONLY in the first trimester. After that, there is majority opposition to abortion-on-demand.
Then there is that image issue. Crist’s image falls somewhere between “slick” and “sleazy.” It is that fast-talking, big-promises delivery — with the appearance of a salesman you cannot trust at first sight. Also, there is that ever-present Hollywood self-nurtured deep tan – a bit much even for a Floridian.
Combine the “look” with the record of flipping and flopping all over the political map – and Crist’s wannabe ambition to hold high public office at almost any cost — and you wonder how Crist does as well as he does. Of course, since abandoning his Republican roots he has not been able to win a statewide office – and he is not going to win this one.
So, there ‘tis.
