California's Newsom and Florida's DeSantis demonstrate their desperate ambitions | Opinion

Seeing his chance of capturing the Republican nomination for President fading, Gov. Ron DeSantis is pulling out all the stops.

On Monday, Fox News announced that DeSantis has agreed to debate Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Nov. 30, with Sean Hannity moderating.

Fox has labeled it “A Red State Versus Blue State Debate,” perhaps realizing “The Biggest Loser” was already taken. DeSantis is running a whopping 50 points behind Donald Trump, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, while slipping to just 10% in New Hampshire, as that state prepares to host the first Republican primary.

Meanwhile, toothsome Gov. Newsom swears he is not running for president, as he swivels his handsome visage toward any camera in the vicinity.

More: In Florida, we know why Gov. Ron DeSantis gets low presidential poll numbers | Letters

“We need to move past this notion that he’s (Biden’s) not going to run,” Newsom recently told Meet The Press. Where would we get that idea? Perhaps when a governor of the most populous state in the nation debates a Republican presidential candidate? Is Newsom waiting for Biden to step down, or aiming for 2028?

Nothing would make the Republicans more gleeful than Newsom running in either year. Homelessness is out of control in California, with inflation running wild in the state. I can see the GOP ads now: "Do you really want Newsom to do to America what’s he done to California?"

DeSantis has serious problems of his own. Less than a year ago, he was the golden boy, the sane Trump, fresh off a resounding reelection victory and next in line for the throne.

Now? A gimmicky debate and a flood of increasingly extreme, tone-deaf ideas and policy positions. For example, his approving a bill limiting abortion to six weeks, an interval before many women even know they’re pregnant, has turned off young women nationwide.

More: While Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov. Ron DeSantis go at it, Californians flock to Florida

DeSantis continues to alienate voting groups the Republicans have been trying to court. Defending Florida’s new African-American history standards in public schools, which insist some black people benefited from slavery, DeSantis said: The new standards "are probably going to show that some folks eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into doing things later in life.” Seriously?

DeSantis has also been ripping Trump’s response to the COVID pandemic, which was pretty lame but seemingly not lame enough for the Governor. No mandates and restrictions under DeSantis, even if the virus returns full force! And as president, he won’t pay for Americans to receive coronavirus vaccines.

This will assure that only those who can afford the vaccine would be protected. The poor won’t be ― but they’ll still be able to spread the virus before they succumb to it.

Still, you may still wonder how this Harvard graduate has fallen from grace so rapidly. To paraphrase The Wizard of Oz: Ron, you’re not in Florida anymore. There’s no doubt you have a brain. If you only had a heart.

Mike Vogel is a resident of Boynton Beach.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Newsom, DeSantis battle over ambitions for presidency