Want to predict how a presidential candidate will run America after taking office? Just look at their spending ahead on the campaign trail, Nikki Haley said in an onstage dig at Gov. Ron DeSantis.
"The best way to tell about a candidate is how they run their campaign. He has blown through $150 million. I don't even know how you do that," she said.
"He has nothing to show for it. He's spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If you can't manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?"
Haley's remarks came less than an hour into the fifth Republican presidential debate, which took place Wednesday night in Des Moines and aired on CNN.
After a raucous round of applause subsided, DeSantis suggested debate viewers look instead to how Florida has done under his leadership.
"I'm proud that in the state of Florida, we're ranked No. 1 for the economy of all 50 states by CNBC," he said.
Haley chimed in to say Florida also has the highest cost of living. A July analysis by CNBC didn't place Florida in the top 10.
DeSantis continued, "She was ranked No. 50 in education when she was Governor of (South Carolina), and of course she wasn't able to do school choice. She didn't deliver big tax cuts. We're also No. 1 for net in-migration, No. 1 for GDP growth amongst large states, No. 1 for talent development, No. 1 for new business formation. On and on it goes."
DeSantis, Haley and GOP frontrunner Donald Trump were the only Republican presidential candidates to qualify for Wednesday's debate stage. Trump again opted to skip the event in favor of a nearby town hall streamed concurrently on Fox News.
While DeSantis' current spending totals aren't yet in — federal candidates face a Jan. 31 deadline for fourth-quarter fundraising reports — polls have shown that he's struggled to turn his ample expenditures into more support for his cause.
The debate aired less than a week before the Iowa Caucuses.
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