Looks to me like under pressure from DeSantis, Haley has backtracked on the question I just mentioned.
Haley describes Americans for Prosperity Action as “the most conservative grassroots group in the country,” which is true on one set of issues, but not at all true on, say, social issues.
Nikki Haley didn’t exactly refute Ron DeSantis’s charge that she “caves anytime the left comes after her, anytime the media comes after her” by repeating media’s dishonest framing of DeSantis’s education reform as the “don’t say gay” bill — even though she expressed her support for that legislation.
DeSantis, as always, has trouble when he’s not speaking.
Ugh, I think this is what we’re going to get a lot of tonight. DeSantis comes out attempting to body-slam Nikki Haley as some sort of spineless squish, which doesn’t really fit with her reputation or record.
Haley is dodging the question about the difference between her and DeSantis on gender reassignment change surgery for minors. She thinks it should be allowed if parents agree, he doesn’t.
Not the most important thing, but the swirling, moving background is highly distracting. Never know why that is ever a choice producers make. It always looks awful.
Lovely to see NR aluma Eliana Johnson moderating
Not a big deal, perhaps, but DeSantis’s answer on electability starts off with an error: The 2022 polls didn’t generally predict a red wave. Pundits did that.
The first question is a horserace question about the extent to which all the candidates on that stage are only marginally relevant.