Lessons from the DeSantis Campaign

The Economist: “Mr DeSantis’s first mistake was to alienate the aide who revived his first campaign for governor, Susie Wiles. He wound up pushing a formidable operative who knew his every weakness into Mr Trump’s camp, where she is now a top adviser. Then he delayed entering the race for months, calculating that a productive state-legislative session would buttress his campaign but exposing himself to a classic Trumpist bombardment—from the left (for voting to cut entitlements), from the right (for wanting to raise taxes) and out of left field (for eating pudding with his fingers).”

“Mr DeSantis attempted an unconventional campaign launch on Twitter, but it proved a carnival of glitches that mocked his image of competence. Perhaps most damaging, he conducted another radical experiment by outsourcing key decisions to a Super PAC, Never Back Down, which he and his campaign could not legally control. It burned through tens of millions of dollars until, last month, it backed down, with officials resigning or being fired after anonymous finger-pointing over bad decisions.”