Democrats just released an opposition research document on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, underscoring the seriousness with which they view his potential candidacy for president.
The 500-page document was released on April 3 as a full website called DesantisResearchBook.com, which is broken into numerous sections with navigation tabs on the left margin.
The research effort was led by American Bridge 21st Century, a leftist Super PAC founded by left-wing activist David Brock in 2010 and is associated with the leftist advocacy group Media Matters.
“Ron DeSantis’ justification for running for president is what he calls the Florida Blueprint. But facing crisis after crisis in the state, DeSantis failed to rise to the occasion, and the results speak for themselves,” the group says on the website.
Democrats seek to convince voters that DeSantis is “caught up in culture wars, unfit for office and utterly unprepared for the public pressure that comes with a contentious Republican presidential primary,” Pat Dennis, the group’s president, said in a statement quoted by Axios.
The group attacks DeSantis on more than two dozen fronts, including the issues of education, housing, Disney, Russia/Ukraine, abortion, guns, health care, and allegations he would be a threat to social security and medicare.
American Bridge also released a separate dossier on former President Trump, although the document for DeSantis appears to be more robust.
On education policy, the group argues that under DeSantis, Florida is leading nearly every other state in the country in the number of books banned, while alleging the governor is using the education department to advance his own ideological agenda. The activist group also criticizes DeSantis’ support for school choice initiatives.
American Bridge accuses DeSantis of “doling out favors to the Walt Disney Corporation,” including providing the company with special broadcasting funding and tax breaks, as well as carving out exemptions from crackdowns on social media companies.
The research file says that DeSantis’ recent feud with Disney was simply a form of political “retribution” after Disney had spoken out against a state law prohibiting school districts from encouraging “classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students.”
The bill was labeled by detractors as the “Don’t Say Gay Bill.”
Desantis, who is currently trailing 30 points behind Trump in recent polls for the the Republican nomination, has yet to formally announce his bid for the presidency.
