SIOUX CENTER, Iowa (AP) — LaTomah Hauff stopped at the red-covered table on her way to the Dean Classic Car Museum to write down her contact information on a sign-up sheet to learn more about Ron DeSantis.
The 75-year-old retired speech therapist had driven an hour to hear the Florida governor speak in northwest Iowa last Saturday. She was one of more than 600 Iowa Republicans who filed into the exhibit hall and passed out flyers on the screen about DeSantis and cards to sign a pledge of support for him in the GOP presidential caucuses. next year
The display, with all the hallmarks of a presidential campaign, was the work of Never Back Down, a super-political action committee promoting DeSantis as he moves toward a 2024 bid.
It was also a first look at how this group, able to receive unlimited sums from wealthy donors, unlike a presidential campaign, plans to build a network of supporters necessary to compete in the caucuses.
Basically, it’s a caucus campaign that, for legal reasons, can’t be explicitly tied to a candidate.
The new focus, aimed at maximizing super PAC dollars, underscores the stakes in Iowa for DeSantis. He must prove early that he is a viable threat to former President Donald Trump, whose team says he has already signed up thousands of Iowa volunteers and supporters before DeSantis even declared his candidacy.
The effort comes with thorny challenges. The super PAC must essentially build a separate grassroots network to get commitments from Iowans to support DeSantis without coordinating with him.
“The biggest difficulty is the tightrope they’re going to have to walk,” said Marlys Popma, a veteran Iowa Republican campaign organizer and former senior adviser to John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. the most interesting, but I can definitely see that it can be done and I think it’s a really interesting approach.”
About 150 miles southeast of the fundraiser DeSantis headlined in Republican-heavy Sioux County, the real work of Never Back Down was underway.
At an office in western suburban Des Moines, Republican operatives had held three five-day training sessions for paid organizing classes in mid-May, with three more scheduled for June. By early May, the group had hired more than a half-dozen experienced political strategists and recruited volunteers from veteran organizers from around the state, including former senior aides to Gov. Kim Reynolds and former Gov. Terry Branstad.
By early May, teams had checked at least 1,000 addresses and planned to double that by Sunday.
The goal is to secure pledges to support DeSantis in caucuses, expected to kick off the 2024 Republican voting season, in all 1,670 precincts where the party plans to hold them next year.
“When you talk about caucus organizing, there are many layers. But our particular layer is trying to build a ground game, build a network of volunteers,” said super PAC senior adviser David Polyansky.
He said similar plans were in place in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Nevada and other early states.
Officials plan to make the Des Moines-area headquarters the training center for more than 30 organizers the super PAC plans to hire and send to the four initial contest states and more than a dozen others they are expected to hold their contests next March 5, so – called Super Tuesday.
A spokeswoman for the super PAC declined to suggest a budget for the Iowa operation. But Never Back Down has raised more than $30 million, and DeSantis has more than $80 million in his gubernatorial campaign account that is expected to be transferred to the super PAC.
Never Back Down’s advisers bet money is better spent on staff, door-calling and phone banking than advertising.
Ad sellers are required by law to offer a candidate’s campaign the cheapest rate, a legal distinction intended to make it easier for candidates to communicate with voters. This does not apply to super PACs, which often pay exorbitant fees.
Polyansky is among several GOP operatives with Iowa experience advising the super PAC. Like senior adviser Jeff Roe and pollster Chris Wilson, he was part of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s winning 2016 Iowa caucus campaign.
Organizing alone hardly guarantees success in Iowa, but it is essential in the peculiar contests that require voters to attend late-night meetings in the dead of winter. PAC dollars can make all the difference in pursuing a relatively small following.
In 2016, Cruz won Iowa with a record turnout of approximately 180,000 people with fewer than 52,000 votes.
Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign used the contact information his local organizing staff gathered from the large crowds he drew at his Iowa events to draw large numbers of first-time participants into its ranks, fueling his victory in the caucus.
Trump also filled seats during his 2016 Iowa campaign, but his top advisers, who had little understanding of caucuses, failed to track thousands of Iowans, costing him the early victory.
This time, top Trump aides say they expect the former president to win Iowa in large part by directing his audience to a website designed to connect interested Iowans with local organizers.
They had expected thousands to sign up for an outdoor rally in Des Moines on the same day DeSantis was in northwest Iowa, but the threat of severe storms prompted Trump to cancel. The Trump campaign hopes to bring back the event in June.
Even with his big budget and a possible army of staff criss-crossing Iowa, an organizing campaign without the candidate is at a disadvantage, said veteran Republican strategist Mike Murphy.
Murphy led a pro-Jeb Bush super PAC’s effort to promote the former Florida governor’s campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. With a $100 million budget, Right to Rise emphasized in messages through advertising and direct mail.
But Bush fell from his spot as the field’s early favorite, in part because of his failure to ignite enthusiasm and recognize Trump’s viability.
A super PAC’s strengths lie in echoing a candidate’s messages or attacking opponents. Persuading voters to commit to caucus attendance almost necessarily requires the candidate’s presence, Murphy said.
“If you don’t have the candidate, or a strong surrogate, like a spouse, to tour and meet people in a state with a culture of interaction between candidates, it’s hard to have a big organic impact, and that’s what they are. it will be found,” Murphy said.
If last Saturday was any indication, the super PAC appeared poised to throw shade at DeSantis, with all the trappings of a local organizing campaign, including “DeSantis ’24” yard signs.
Hauff, the retired speech therapist, will be a good test.
Although she signed up to learn more, she didn’t get around to signing one of the caucus pledge cards next to the glossy flyers.
“I like what the man is saying. I like what he’s done in Florida. But it’s early,” Hauff said. “I’m not ready to make a full commitment right now. I want to see how this shakes out. He’s one of the names on my list.”
