Republican presidential hopeful Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) said Friday on Fox News Channel’s “Your World” that “it’s just odd” that neither former President Donald Trump nor former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC) is willing to debate.
DeSantis said, “I’ve been up here, a number of days in New Hampshire since Iowa. I’m the only one not running basically a basement campaign. I’m out there taking questions from the media. I’m doing town halls. I have two more today. I did one live on CNN. I committed to do both debates. We were supposed to do one on ABC/WMUR last night and one on Sunday on CNN. Neither of the other candidates are willing to do it. It’s just odd.”
He continued, “This first in the nation is a tradition where the voters really kick the tires. They ask you questions. Having a debate here is a tradition. There’s always a debate in New Hampshire. in fact, Ronald Reagan, 1980, ‘I’m paying for that microphone, Mr. Green.’ That happened here. So I think a lot of it is just media narrative, paid advertising, not as much candidates getting in there and answering questions. But I think that that is what you owe it. So we’re here. We look forward to have two great events tonight.”
DeSantis added, “We have not spent much money here. Nikki Haley is spending an inordinate of money here. I talked to a voter that said in one day they got seven mailers from Nikki Haley in their mailbox. I’m thinking to myself, the first six you’re not going to vote but that magic seventh mailer do the trick. A lot of trees are being killed for that campaign. The reality is, she’s not going to be competitive with Donald Trump on the ground here. That’s clear from talking to voters. I have taken more questions from voters in New Hampshire this week than the other two candidates combined. I’ll do more tonight.”
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