The Republican primary campaign is careening toward its final act, with seven weeks to go until the Iowa caucuses and former President Donald Trump the overwhelming favorite to claim his third consecutive GOP presidential nomination – and a rematch with the politically hobbled President Joe Biden.
After months on the campaign trail, Trump’s remaining rivals are still more focused on running each other off the road than taking on the former president, who – despite facing 91 criminal counts across four indictments – is comfortable enough in his perch that he is waiting until the final weeks and days before the caucuses for a planned campaign blitz across Iowa.
Trump could, as he did in 2016, fall short in Iowa and march on to the nomination. For all his team’s public confidence, many advisers – having seen all the polling – are saying they believe Iowa could be a wild card, sources told CNN. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appears to have less of a margin for error and is pouring resources into the state. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is playing there, but her truer test could come in New Hampshire, where independents can vote in the primary and the electorate is, on balance, less conservative.
But for all the new names, the fundamentals of the 2024 GOP primary are in many ways unchanged from 2016’s contest, when efforts to consolidate the anti-Trump vote never came to fruition. This year, Haley and DeSantis are attempting something broadly similar, casting Trump as a political giant worth revering – but past his sell-by date and a general election liability. Even former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who told CNN’s Dana Bash Sunday he’s not going anywhere before next summer’s convention, has pared back his attacks on the former president in favor of selling his own brand.
Biden’s troubles – which range from poor polling and concerns…
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