The Stand for America PAC is the primary SuperPAC behind GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley.
The PAC has had some curious spending habits, possibly showing an inside strategy of the Haley and Trump campaigns.
Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis are fighting it out for second place, with DeSantis still holding the edge in national polling averages (12.9-10.0).
While we would think Haley would be attacking Trump, the SuperPAC has spent nothing going after Trump but just launched a $3.5 million ad spend going after DeSantis.
The PAC has spent a mere $25,000 in attack ads against Joe Biden, with another $28 million touting Haley's agenda.
When the Stand for America PAC was asked about its advertising strategy, it made it quite clear that DeSantis has a target on his head until he is out of this race.
SFA spokesperson Brittany Yanick stated:
"Ron DeSantis' lies and desperate mudslinging aren't working; it's backfiring and costing him support.
"We won't allow DeSantis to spread lies about Nikki's record when it comes to China or terrorism in the Middle East. We're focused on ensuring voters understand Nikki Haley's record and DeSantis' latest attempts to rewrite history amid his sinking ship of a campaign."
The thing here is that DeSantis is not lying; Haley is, and her ads have been debunked in a fact-check by the Washington Post.
One of the biggest lies that Haley is spreading about DeSantis is his drilling and fracking position.
DeSantis has clarified that he supports domestic drilling and fracking, but he does not support it in Florida because of the "geological makeup of limestone and shallow water sources."
When DeSantis was in Congress, he actually voted in favor of legislation that would have turned over regulations for fracking operations to the states rather than federal control.
She is also lying about his climate change stance due to DeSantis's request for funding for "challenges posed by flooding, intensifying storm events and sea-level rise."
DeSantis never mentioned climate change, but Haley has during the first GOP debate in August. In response to a question on climate change, Haley stated:
"First of all, yes, is climate change real? Yes, it is."
DeSantis clarified his stance on climate change in May during a Fox News interview, stating:
"This is something that is the fact of life in the Sunshine State.
"I've always rejected the politicization of the weather."
While there was a time when I believed DeSantis and Haley would team up and present the American people with a joint ticket before voting started, my vision of that has significantly changed.
I now go back to my original premise, which was that Trump gave Haley his blessing to run on the condition that she take out DeSantis for a high-ranking position in his cabinet, with my guess being either VP or Secretary of State.
The fact that her PAC is spending virtually every penny outside of Haley advertising on DeSantis is extremely telling, but strategy-wise, it makes no sense if she really wants to win this election.
Nobody can win unless they start to chip away at Trump's lead, and with these attacks against DeSantis, his base will never pull the handle for her.
It seems evident to me that she is aligning herself with Trump in what now has become a concentrated effort to eliminate DeSantis from the election before Super Tuesday.
