Newsom vs. DeSantis: Bring It On The U.S. needs a debate between the California and Florida Governors.
The two shouty debates between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in 2020 were not exactly the stuff of Lincoln and Douglas, and if next year brings a rerun, many TV viewers would probably flip the channel in favor of something else, anything else, “Fast & Furious 17” or women’s air hockey finals. Yet serious public arguments can matter.
So kudos to Fox News’s Sean Hannity, who floated a series of “great debates” in an interview this week with Gavin Newsom. “Love it,” the California Governor said.
Mr. Hannity: “You would do a two-hour debate with Ron DeSantis?”
Mr. Newsom: “I’d make it three.”
The Florida Governor responded at a news conference Thursday, without addressing Mr. Newsom’s hurled gauntlet. “What I would tell him is, you know what, stop pussyfooting around,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Are you going to throw your hat in the ring and challenge Joe [Biden]? Are you going to get in and do it? Or are you just going to sit on the sidelines and chirp?”
Why not a public face-off between these two combative, young, upwardly mobile Governors? This could be the substantive argument the country needs, pitting Florida’s red-state model against California’s blue-state approach. Instead of catcalls in the media, they could make a case to the public, with evidence and data, for the country to follow their lead.
Mr. DeSantis, as an announced 2024 candidate, has more to lose, but in our eyes his state has the better story, and if the Governor is confident about it, he should take the challenge. A good showing by Mr. Newsom could even nudge him into a primary against Mr. Biden. Florida vs. California is what the electorate deserves in 2024, and if it isn’t an official presidential debate, an extracurricular one beats nothing.
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