Back in 2007, when Mike Huckabee was failing to crack even 10% of the vote, I made the suggestion here on KTracy.com and behind the scenes to the campaign that they should try and orchestrate a one-on-one debate between Governor Huckabee and Bill Richardson (or Joe Biden or Chris Dodd if Richardson wasn't willing). Nothing ever came of the idea and I don't know how seriously the campaign took it, but I thought it was a good opportunity to for them to show off Mike Huckabee's strength on the debate stage where he would get more than his allotment of 8 minutes of screen time in a 2 hour debate.

So, as you can imagine, I'm very much amused that Ron DeSantis' campaign is doing the same thing with Gavin Newsom, the high profile Governor of California and, despite his insistence that he's not running against Biden, a lot of Democrats with deep pockets are praying he jumps in the fray.

What's In This For Gavin Newsom?

Governor Gavin Newsom probably isn't going to challenge Joe Biden in the primary. He's still a sitting governor and Joe Biden already has the most talented people on the left in his corner thanks to that desk he sometimes sits at in the Oval Office. Biden, despite all the jokes about him, is a fundraising machine. I suspect that in 2008, he was picked as Barack Obama's running mate because relying on Biden to access traditional means of Democrat big money felt a lot safer than relying on Hillary Clinton after a brutal and long primary battle between the two. With Biden raking in cash from unions, retirees, and law firms, there's not a lot of room for Newsom to fundraise the money he needs to launch a national campaign between now and Super Tuesday.

Instead, Gavin Newsom likely agreed to this debate for two reasons:

1. Gavin Newsom is trying to make himself the front runner in 2028. If Biden wins, Kamala Harris has left a lot of Democrats concerned that she may not have what it takes to beat a Republican in 2028. Newsom wants to look presidential, and competing in a contentious debate with a Republican presidential candidate is certainly one way to prove you've got presidential qualities.
• But, like, if Biden happened to pull a Vladimir Putin and fall down the stairs, soil himself, but tragically not recover; I'm sure Newsom would solemnly step up and fill the role of Democrat savior.
2. Newsom also hates Ron DeSantis. The two have been engaging in a bitter feud since before the 2022 election when DeSantis made Newsom's state of California out to be a necropolis of walking, drug-addicted corpses, out of control crime thanks to efforts to defund the police, failing schools, and endless COVID lockdowns and mask mandates. Newsom wants revenge.

So bloodthirsty is Newsom for revenge on DeSantis that the California Governor agreed to let Sean Hannity moderate the debate on Fox News.

Sean Hannity

Every year, I lose more and more respect for Sean Hannity. What started with him endlessly droning on and on with pre-written RNC talking points has become him hopelessly doting on Trump while texting people behind the scenes that he hates Trump's guts but he's too afraid of what coming out would do to his ratings. Sean Hannity is exactly the kind of Republican he claims to despise: the Republican who won't speak truth because he's afraid.

Don't get me wrong, I'm going to watch this debate and pray for more like it between other Republicans and other Democrats this year and in each primary to come. However, I'm not sure I like Hannity as a moderator from a Republican perspective. Sean Hannity will NEVER host a general election Presidential Debate. He has an awful habit of talking over Democrats who are on the verge of making a good point by repeating the same four or five word sentence again, and again, and again until he cuts off their microphone or goes to a commercial break. Not only is Sean Hannity not going to give us a fair idea of what Ron DeSantis could do in a REAL Presidential Debate if he can figure out how to beat Trump, but Hannity is likely going to make Gavin Newsom look like a victim and leave the entire right looking bad in the process.

Ron DeSantis

Ron DeSantis did not have a great debate night last month. He didn't do bad, but he didn't do great. He was underwhelming as the man who had the best chance of knocking Trump down coming into this primary season largely because of his ability to win down ballot victories across the state of Florida when Trump's MAGA characters (because they were more cartoon characters than candidates) sank the GOP everywhere else during the midterm elections in 2022.

Either Ron DeSantis thinks he failed to turn heads because he was constrained by the format of debating seven other Republicans instead of one other Democrat, or Ron DeSantis is delusional and thinks this is going to be a piece of cake debating Newsom.

Thankfully for Team DeSantis, I don't think he's delusional. If he was, DeSantis probably wouldn't have fought to have Sean Hannity host this debate. He probably knows he's going to need help from the moderator and, even if Hannity tries to be neutral, you know he's not going to be able to do that if Ron DeSantis fails to defend conservative principles well.

I'm excited for the debate. The RNC should try to narrow the field down to four or five candidates before the next debate and every Republican campaign should be reaching out to Democrats interested in a 2028 Presidential Run to have similar debates. Likewise, in 2028, Democrats should be looking for Republicans to debate. This exchange of ideas is EXCELLENT for Democracy!