Welcome to the morning after the first Republican presidential debate. Gov. Ron DeSantis was the top-polling candidate onstage last night — but you wouldn’t have known it based on how little his rivals went after him and his record. Most Republicans onstage hammered entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, not the Florida governor. In terms of speaking time, former Vice President Mike Pence spoke the most at over 12 minutes, followed by Ramaswamy and then former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to The New York Times. DeSantis was fourth. At times, he seemed to be jockeying for attention while others mixed it up. DeSantis abstained from dragging his GOP rivals, including former President Donald Trump, and didn’t get hooked into the back and forth. But that also meant he wasn’t a dominating force like Ramaswamy, who interrupted his opponents —and was called an amateur and rookie. The governor also had a couple of uncomfortable pauses, including delaying raising his hand when the candidates were asked if they’d support Trump if he is convicted. Almost every time DeSantis had the floor, his answers carried three key components: 1) He brought questions back to his record in Florida. DeSantis boasted about reopening businesses during the pandemic, responding to natural disasters when asked about the climate crisis, signing a 6-week abortion ban into law, firing left-leaning state prosecutors, overhauling public education and his cruise to reelection in Florida. While moderators accused DeSantis several times of failing to answer their questions — including whether he would support a federal 6-week abortion ban if elected president — the approach allowed DeSantis to remind the audience why he got famous in the first place, even as he’s underperformed since launching his campaign. 2) He criticized President Joe Biden. DeSantis may have overlooked his GOP rivals, but he didn’t spare the current president. DeSantis described Biden as a man relegated to his basement and criticized him for not saying as much as he thought he should about the wildfires raging in Maui. Answering his first question, about the economy, DeSantis said, “We cannot succeed as a country if you are working hard and cannot afford groceries, a car or a new home while Hunter Biden can make hundreds of thousands of dollars on lousy paintings.†3) He repeated the talking points Floridians have become familiar with. He described the U.S. as “in decline,†said he believed in “education not indoctrination†and bashed “critical race theory†and “gender ideology†(though he didn’t use “wokeâ€). The refrains have become familiar at press conferences and public appearances throughout the state, and underscored that he may need new material. DeSantis’ comments offered some openings for GOP rivals to fact check him or to question his Covid-19 record, positions on Medicare and Social Security, past alignment with Trump or his battle with Walt Disney World. Trump has attacked him over each of these things, but no one jumped in to fill the void onstage Wednesday. (The one exception was when Ramaswamy accused DeSantis of delivering “memorized pre-prepared slogans,†but the exchange was quickly scuttled when Pence shot back, “Was that one of yours?â€) In the best-case scenario for DeSantis, candidates’ refusal to go after him could be a sign that they don’t want to burn bridges in case the 2024 contest were to become a two-man race between DeSantis and Trump. But DeSantis' campaign predicted before the debate that "every candidate on and off the debate stage" would "have their knives out" for him "because they know this is a two-man race." So not going after him could show they simply didn't view him as a threat. — WHERE'S RON? Gov. DeSantis will be interviewed on Fox News’ Fox and Friends at 8:40 a.m. Programming note: Florida Playbook will not be publishing from Aug. 28 through Sept. 4. We’ll be back to our normal schedule on Tuesday, Sept. 5. | 
