Iowa voter’s question at a town hall shows how GOP candidates have avoided taking on Trump

Waukee, Iowa (CNN) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and his allies have hammered former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on the campaign trail and the airwaves – and she has fired back – as the two seek to emerge as the strongest alternative to former President Donald Trump.

But at least one Iowa voter wanted to know — why isn’t more of that energy being directed at the front-runner?

“Why haven’t you gone directly after him?” Chris Garcia, a voter who plans to caucus for DeSantis, asked during a town hall here on Wednesday. “In my viewpoint, you’re going pretty soft on him.”

The question sparked an extended back and forth between Garcia and DeSantis, who argued that he has made an effort to explain the differences between himself and the front-runner, but refuses to “smear him personally.”

The exchange highlighted how a potential race for second place, intensifying for months, has left Trump largely unscathed and in a lane of his own – much to the frustration of Republicans like Garcia.

Garcia was not satisfied, telling CNN he intended to support DeSantis, but was urging him to confront Trump more aggressively.

“I don’t know that he’s going to be able to pull this off unless he goes after Trump,” Garcia, a Republican from Woodward, Iowa, said.

While DeSantis and Haley have been gradually sharpening their differences with Trump, they have been investing far more in trying to tear down one another, particularly with their respective outside groups spending millions in TV attack ads.

DeSantis and two super PACS supporting his candidacy, Never Back Down and Fight Right, spent $7.6 million targeting Haley last year in Iowa alone, compared to less than $500,000 aimed at Trump, according to a CNN analysis of AdImpact, a data tracking firm.

For her part, Haley and her leading superPAC spent nearly $10 million targeting DeSantis, the analysis found, with only $1.5 million directed at Trump.

The onslaught has produced a dizzying back-and-forth of ads, many of which have mocked DeSantis for his one-time adoration of Trump and belittled Haley for her one-time admiration of Hillary Clinton. The ads have delivered blistering accounts of their respective dealings with China business development during their time as governors of South Carolina and Florida.

“You see all the money that has been spent against Gov. DeSantis or against Gov. Haley, but how much of that money is being spent against Trump?” said Bob Vander Plaats, chairman of the Iowa Family Leader, an influential organization among evangelicals. “That is what the people are really asking.”

For months, candidates have faced increasing pressure to draw sharper distinctions between themselves and Trump, who has dominated in national and early primary state polling.

But Trump’s rivals also run the risk of alienating his supporters, many of whom have become even more loyal in the wake of the former president’s legal troubles. Candidates who’ve gone after Trump the hardest, such as former Govs. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Asa Hutchinson of Arkansas, have stalled.

DeSantis, Haley and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy each have said that, if elected president, they would pardon Trump – who faces four criminal indictments – if he’s convicted. They also defended him after Maine’s Democratic secretary of state removed Trump from the state’s primary ballot last month.

Vander Plaats, who endorsed DeSantis last year, said all Republican candidates faced a delicate balancing act confronting a former president who wields such loyalty in the GOP.

“It’s a nuanced argument,” Vander Plaats said. “For Trump voters, their second choice is DeSantis, so if you’re going to try and peel away the Trump voter to come to you, you can’t alienate them.”

Money and pressure

In the closing chapter of the Iowa race, the financial fortunes of DeSantis and Haley have changed. DeSantis and his outside allies have long held a fundraising advantage, but finances are now far tighter, aides say, as Haley is enjoying the biggest bounty of contributions yet.

Her campaign announced Wednesday that it raised $24 million in the final quarter of last year – more than double her previous quarter – putting her on robust financial footing.

Doug Stout, a longtime Republican activist who has seen all of the candidates in their visits to Iowa over the past year, said he is still torn between DeSantis and Haley. He believes both candidates would represent a strong future for the Republican Party.

“We need a governor as the Republican nominee,” Stout said Wednesday as he left the DeSantis event in Waukee. “It’s bad that it’s kind of devolved into something where they both seem to be fighting for second. They’re not fighting for second. They’re fighting for president.”

DeSantis is facing particular pressure to differentiate himself from Trump in Iowa, where he has bet his political future. Privately and publicly, DeSantis allies have expressed doubts about whether he’ll be able to win in Iowa.

He’s also fallen behind on spending. SFA Fund, Inc., the super PAC backing Haley, has spent $30 million advertising in Iowa, while Haley’s campaign has spent an additional $4.7 million, much of that in the last few weeks. Super PACs backing DeSantis have spent just $25.9 million. The Florida governor’s campaign has spent $2.7 million in the state.

He projected confidence Wednesday that he would “do well” in Iowa, citing his campaign’s ground game, including the 1,500 precinct captains supporting him.

“It’s not a primary where you just send in a ballot or just punch your ticket,” DeSantis told reporters after the event. “So we’ve done everything we’ve done with that in mind, and I think you’re going to continue to see really, really good things.”

In Waukee, DeSantis focused on Trump’s failures to deliver on key parts of his 2016 platform, such as a border wall paid for by Mexico, and said the former president would struggle to recruit personnel. He also argued that Trump would have difficulty getting elected.

“We need somebody that’s going to be able to obviously galvanize Republicans, and then win the people that disapprove of Biden’s policies,” DeSantis said. “My fear with Trump is there’s people that disapprove of Biden, but they also disagree with Trump, so they wouldn’t do it.”

On that point, Garcia appeared to agree.

“I’m willing to back him because I don’t think Trump is electable,” he told CNN.

CNN’s David Wright contributed to this story.

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