TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis looks to gain ground among a field of Republican presidential hopefuls, a memo from a political strategy firm could give insight into how he plans on navigating next week's pivotal first debate.
A memo published to the website of Axiom Strategies, whose owner Jeff works alongside the DeSantis-backing Never Back Down Super PAC, was found and first reported by the New York Times Thursday.
The memo unveils a remarkable look into a candidate's pre-debate planning and shows DeSantis has plans to target Vivek Ramaswamy, labeling him as a "fake" conservative. Ramaswamy, a political newcomer who has shown growing poll numbers in recent weeks, called this "another boring, establishment attack."
The strategy also calls for the governor to defend former President Donald Trump from attacks, if Trump doesn't attend the debate as he's indicated.
The memo dated Aug. 15 lists "four basic must-dos" for the governor on the debate stage:
- Attack Joe Biden and the media 3-5 times.
- State positive vision 2-3 times.
- Hammer Vivek Ramaswamy in a response.
- Defend Donald Trump in absentia in response to a Chris Christie attack.
The memo also gives coaching on how DeSantis should respond to attacks, and identifies potential "orchestra pit" moments, citing a quote from late Fox News founder Roger Ailes on what gets media attention.
Potential Orchestra Pit Moments:
- Take a sledgehammer to Vivek Ramaswamy: Fake Vivek Or Vivek the Fake.
- Defend Trump when Chris Christie Attacks him: Trump isn't there so let's just leave him alone. He's too weak to defend himself here. We're all running against him. I don't think we want to join forces with someone on this stage who's auditioning for a show on MSNBC
- Invoke a personal anecdote story about family, kids, Casey, showing emotion.
- Carrying the torch.
Still up on Axiom Strategies website are hundreds of pages of polling data and opposing candidate research.
Super PACS can't legally strategize with candidates privately and according to the New York Times report it's not rare for outside groups to post documents publicly.
The debate will air on Fox News on Wednesday, Aug. 23.