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The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for Tuesday, and the political pundits are having a field day speculating over the fates of the three Republican candidates. But not much attention is being paid to the Democratic side of the ballot. Former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino says there may be a story there, too. Speaking on 710 WOR’s Len Berman and Michael Riedel in the Morning program, Astorino feels that Donald Trump is not the only candidate who needs a massive landslide victory.
“I do think it’s going to be interesting Tuesday because of the cross-over vote, with independents able to vote either way,” Astorino told Berman and Riedel. “They could vote for Joe Biden in a write-in, because he’s not even on the ballot, believe it or not. Here’s the other story nobody’s talking about- if this guy Dean Phillips, this guy from Minnesota, gets 30, 35% of the vote, and the sitting incumbent President… he only gets 60, 65, even 70, that’s a rebuke of him, too. So, I think there’s two stories going on Tuesday. Of course, the media only wants to play one side, but I think that’s a biggie.”
As to the Republican candidates, Donald Trump wants a second straight landslide victory, while Nikki Haley is hoping for a strong second-place finish at worst before the South Carolina primary. That leaves Ron DeSantis, who was the darling of the GOP just a year ago, but few things have gone right since the Florida governor declared his candidacy. Astorino says DeSantis has nobody to blame but himself for his implosion. “The rap on DeSantis has always been that… he just doesn’t really have that ‘it,’ that connection, which I don’t necessarily agree with, but that’s been the case. He’s also admitted he didn’t use the media the right way in Iowa. He should have done a lot more interviews, traditional TV interviews… [but] the biggest problem for DeSantis is, he was always trying to draft off Trump… if I like Pepsi, I’m going to drink Pepsi, not Shop-Rite brand cola and that’s kind of the issue.”
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