Down and out: What went wrong with Ron DeSantis' run for the Republican presidential nomination?

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MANCHESTER, N.H. – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign peaked before it even started.

A year ago, DeSantis was still basking in the glow of his convincing gubernatorial re-election victory in Florida and was the clear alternative to former President Trump in the burgeoning Republican White House race.

The former president was still facing plenty of criticism by fellow Republicans for contributing to the GOP's lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms.

Additionally, Trump's 2024 presidential campaign launch at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, a couple of weeks after the midterms was panned by many pundits.

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DeSantis was neck and neck with Trump in a slew of national and early state polls, but as winter turned to spring, the Florida governor came under repeated verbal assault by the former president and his allies.

DeSantis was already bruised by the time he formally launched his campaign, an announcement on social media that was mired with technical difficulties – marking the first of many bad omens for the popular governor.

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The governor faced an onslaught of negative ads from the Trump world during late spring into summer.

Veteran New Hampshire-based Republican strategist Michael Dennehy, who served on