Whether he just wants to raise his profile in his home state or has bigger plans for the future, such as the presidency, and wants publicity for it, California Governor Gavin Newsom has increased national knowledge of him by his high-profile fights with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who also started fights nationally to raise his profile before announcing his run for the presidency.
As part of that publicity campaign, Governor Newsom challenged Governor Ron DeSantis to a debate, likely thinking it would lead to a bit of publicity for both of them but not amount to anything. Somewhat unexpectedly, however, Governor DeSantis accepted, and now Newsom appears agitated.
Governor Newsom threw down the debate challenge during an appearance with Sean Hannity on Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” telling the host that he was “all in” for a debate that would last up to three hours. Further, he claimed he would need only a day of notice and no notes to prepare.
Governor DeSantis then appeared on “Hannity” this week and accepted Governor Newsom’s challenge to a long-form debate between just the two of them, telling the host, “Let’s get it done. Just tell me when and where we’ll do it.”
Governor Newsom’s claims quickly fell apart after Governor DeSantis accepted the challenge, as, contrary to his claim that he would just need one day’s notice to prepare for and appear for the debate, he told Fox News that the first time he would be available for such a debate is in three months.
The two sides have agreed in principle to some of the main facets of the debate. It will be, they agree, ninety minutes and both men will have equal speaking time during it and two minutes to give closing statements at the end. They will not be able to have help from their staff members during the debate.
There is an important aspect of the event, however, on which the two have not agreed, one that agitated Newsom and his team. That is a live audience, which Governor DeSantis wants and Governor Newsom does not.
Lashing out over the live audience proposal in a statement to POLITICO, Governor Newsom’s team said, “What a joke. Desantis’ counterproposal is littered with crutches to hide his insecurity and ineptitude — swapping opening statements with a hype video, cutting down the time he needs to be on stage, adding cheat notes and a cheering section.” Continuing, the spokesperson got a jab in at Governor DeSantis’ expense, saying, “Ron should be able to stand on his own two feet. It’s no wonder Trump is kicking his a**.”
Despite the lashing out, most of the details have been agreed upon. Georgia appears to be the likely location for the debate, as it the only state both listed as being acceptable in their proposed locations. The time, format, and general outline of the debate have been agreed upon. All that remains is the audience question and the question of whether the opening will be an opening video or opening remarks. So, it would appear that Governor Newsom and his team are ill-at-ease not because of a detail proposed, but because Governor DeSantis accepted.
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