DeSantis and Ronchetti in Carlsbad

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis brought the culture wars to Carlsbad Sunday, rousing a crowd of about 1,000 on behalf of GOP gubernatorial candidate Mark Ronchetti and Rep. Yvette Herrell but giving nothing to appease moderate voters in the state's Dem dominated counties who must be persuaded to abandon their party in order for Ronchetti to score an upset. 

Notably, Ronchetti himself shied away from DeSantis' unabashed conservatism/Trumpism delivered to the Sunday afternoon crowd. Instead, he again tried to position himself as a middle of the road Republican who is mainly concerned about fighting crime. 

But that was like trying to run away from a stampede of raging bulls. DeSantis, often mentioned as a future presidential contender, did not come here to walk a tightrope. Instead he jumped with joy on a trampoline, using the most divisive issues possible to accentuate his differences with the Democratic left. 

For all the talk about how inflation and the economy will be a big help to the GOP come November, DeSantis mostly stuck with red meat messaging including harsh criticism of MLG for her handling of Covid, the "woke" institutions of America, transgender medical treatment of children, critical race theory and his battle with Disney over gay rights. 

Following his Carlsbad stop, which was followed by an Arizona rally, DeSantis tweeted:

But what about abortion? Well, DeSantis said nothing about that even though it has surfaced as a leading campaign issue and Ronchetti's handling of it could be a turning point of the '22 campaign. 

Dem Party Chair Jessica Velasquez, ignoring the rural conservatives, employed the Floridian's visit to gin up Dem support in ABQ and Santa Fe: 

DeSantis recently signed into law a ban on abortion after 15 weeks and that makes no exceptions for incest or the life of the mother.

For her part, MLG rolled out her new favorite "E" word about Ronchetti. His fave is "elites." Hers is extremist as seen in this tweet in reaction to the DeSantis visit:

One of our Senior Alligators added:

If you are going to campaign as an "outsider," don't bring in insiders like DeSantis or play inside abortion baseball with Rev. Steve Smotherman. In fact, don't bring in anyone at all and play your own game. 

Ronchetti had a fund-raiser in Carlsbad Friday night, hosted by Brian Bailey, a franchisee of dozens of Domino's Pizza outlets. As for the DeSantis Carlsbad visit Sunday, we're told by one of the Alligators that there was fund-raising conducted but no details were yet available. 

The Ronchetti camp promoted the DeSantis visit heavily to the media but not all were welcome. A reporter for Source NM was denied press credentials to the event and, according to the editor, the reporter was ejected when he tried to report as a private citizen. 

The editor of the on-line news source also reported that Ronchetti's campaign manager said they were denied access because of a critical article they had recently penned about the candidate. The campaign had no comment.

Source NM can be fairly categorized as appealing mainly to a liberal audience--but not necessarily with a journalistic bias--but by story selection i.e. heavy on the environment and the like. But their reporting is fact-based and they are an affiliate of the national journalism nonprofit group States Newsroom.

Ronchetti spent decades in TV newsrooms as a meteorologist being exposed to a variety of news and opinion. For him to exclude media of any sort from one of his own events seems a rebuke of that career. More important, it is a red flag on how he would report to the people via the position of Governor. 

Come on, Mark. At least call your old pal news anchor Dick Knpifing and ask for his opinion before you stiff-arm the profession that made your political career possible.