Rove on N.H. Poll: I Think a Lot of People Thought Haley Would Come in Second, and Instead DeSantis Did

RUSH TRANSCRIPT:
BARTIROMO: “Karl, kick us off here, do you agree with what you just heard?”

ROVE: “I agree with it all. Yeah, look, Donald Trump came out of Iowa with a strong victory, but it was also close. He came within 1100 votes of being below 50 percent. And if he’d been below 0% — 50, we’d all be talking about how a majority of Republicans voted against him. But he got 51% in a divided opposition and a surprise second finish. I think a lot of people thought that Nikki Haley would come in second, and instead Ron DeSantis did in large part a because his super PAC had done an extraordinary job. They knocked on the doors of nearly a million iowans. They recruited 1704 captains for the caucus, and there are the only 1719 caucus sites. They had 40,000 people who signed a commitment card, and he came in to about 2300 votes ahead of Nikki Haley as a result. Ironically enough, he’d fired all the people who put together that ap rat pus over the past year about six weeks ago. But, you know, we — there was a contest. Donald Trump won it in strong style. The question’s going to be what what happens in New Hampshire. I, I worked for a candidate who won Iowa with 41% of the vote and got beat by 18 points in New Hampshire eight days later, so strange things happen in that state.”