DeSantis pushes past embarrassing campaign start, outlines travel schedule for early state visits

"CONCORD, N.H. -- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday sought to push past an embarrassing beginning to his presidential campaign, outlining an aggressive travel schedule as his allies insisted they remain well funded and well positioned for a long Republican primary fight ahead."

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"Yet Trump is plagued by his own baggage, which includes multiple legal threats and a fixation on his 2020 election loss.nn"

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"The only potential longer-term challenge, she said, was that it serves as "a gift to Donald Trump," who will almost certainly ensure that it's not quickly forgotten."

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""I was just kind of sitting in Tallahassee, like I didn't really know what was going on because Twitter handles all of that," DeSantis told conservative commentator Glenn Beck."

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""Gov. DeSantis is definitely a serious and legitimate contender for the top spot.""

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"It didn't work," Sununu added."

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""Ron's job was to deliver the speech and make the points."

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"While Trump's team piled on with gleeful mocking - "a #DeSaster of epic proportions," Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Truth Social - many Republican officials, donors and early state activists suggested there would be few long-term consequences."

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"nnRepublican strategist Terry Sullivan, who managed Sen. Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign, suggested that DeSantis is well positioned to overcome an early stumble."

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"nnRepublican donor and vocal Trump critic Eric Levine said there was little chatter in the donor community about DeSantis' stumble out of the gate."

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""Look, I like Elon Musk, but apparently he fired one too many IT guys," New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, a 2024 Republican presidential prospect himself and a periodic DeSantis critic, said on ABC's "The View.""

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"nnDeSantis is casting himself as the only legitimate Republican rival in the GOP's crowded primary to former President Donald Trump, who holds a big lead in early polls along with a firm grip on a significant portion of the GOP's passionate base."

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""You can't blame Ron DeSantis for that."nn"I mean, if Elon Musk told me, 'We're going to stream it,' I'd be like, 'Yeah, this guy knows what he's doing.'"

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""We are laser-focused on taking Gov. DeSantis' forward-thinking message for restoring America to every potential voter in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina," campaign manager Generra Peck said."

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"No one will work harder than Gov. DeSantis to share his vision with the country - he has only begun to fight.""

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""The only numbers we'll talk about are the huge leads President Trump is racking up in the early states," said spokesman Steven Cheung."

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"No other Republican presidential candidate has such an infrastructure in place, including Trump."

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