MIAMI.- Experts in national politics say that the candidate who wins Iowa it can set a successful trend in the rest of the states. This is well known to both former President Donald Trump as the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who attend the Iowa State Fair this Saturday, famous for its ‘Fried Twinkies’ and statues of farm animals made of butter.
It had not been clear until now that Trump, the leading contender for the Republican nomination, would attend the event, a “must” political appointment for presidential hopefuls in the state capital, Des Moines, which runs from 10 to 20 of August.
Trump’s decision to attend the event on the same day as DeSantis, his closest rival for the Republican nomination, is probably no coincidence. Political experts agree that this step by Trump would have the purpose of stealing the limelight from his rivals with a view to the White House, but mainly from DeSantis.
The Iowa State Fair is seen as the start of a new, more intense period of the Republican primary season as the nationally televised debates begin this month and the five-month countdown to the Iowa Caucus kicks off.
The state of Iowa is important for the nomination of the Republican candidate for the presidency for several reasons, and one of these, perhaps the main one, is that the first caucus in the primary election process is held in that state.
The Iowa caucus is a public meeting in which Republican voters meet to express their preferences for a presidential candidate. Because Iowa is the first state to undertake this process, it often sets the tone and dynamic for primary elections in other states.
Over the next few days, both the well-known and less popular hopefuls will tour the fairgrounds outside Des Moines to present their proposals at a grandstand sponsored by the Des Moines Register and a series of talks hosted by the state’s Republican governor, Kim Reynolds.
Trump is currently ‘crushing’ his main opponent in the race. The former president is roughly 30 points ahead of DeSantis, with the others in single digits, according to several major polls.
Meanwhile, DeSantis is trying to recalibrate his campaign, which has dipped in the polls and has seen two personnel changes in the past two weeks, including his campaign manager.
DeSantis does have some advantages in Iowa, however, as he has the backing of a fleet of Iowa lawmakers, a campaign team inherited from the 2016 presidential bid of Sen. Ted Cruz, who beat Trump in Iowa; and a super PAC endowed with 100 million dollars.
The Florida governor has also said that he will visit the 99 counties of Iowa. In fact, his children accompany him on this political foray.
Iowa’s state fair last year drew 1 million attendees and is a major contest for front-runners as they court voters in the state that opens the presidential nominating contest in January.
