(1 Jun 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4437730

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rochester, New Hampshire - 1 June 2023
1. Various of buttons, hats, and shirts for sale outside a Ron DeSantis 2024 campaign event
2. Pan of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waving to crowd as he walks on stage to a podium
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Gov. Ron DeSantis, (R) Florida, Republican Presidential Candidate:
"And that's really what leadership is all about. Leadership is not about entertainment. Leadership is not about building a brand. Leadership is not about virtue signaling. Leadership is about producing results for the people that you represent. In the state of Florida, we have produced more results during my administration than I would say any administration in the history of my state. And I'd put us up against anyone in the modern history of the Republican Party."
4. Mid of campaign signs reading (English) "DeSantis 2024 Never Back Down"

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Salem, New Hampshire - 1 June 2023
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Gov. Ron DeSantis, (R) Florida, Republican Presidential Candidate:
"And understand when people say that they're going to slay the deep state in a day or six months, I'm sorry. This is something that only a two-term president is going to be able to bring to fruition. Because the bureaucrats will just wait you out if you're a lame-duck president. They'll wait you out. As soon as you're gone, they'll change it and they'll go back to no. So, you know, anyone that says that they can slay the deep state in six months should be asked, Why didn't you do that when you've had four years to try to do that?"
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis kicked off his first visit to New Hampshire as a declared presidential candidate on Thursday by turning his focus to his chief rival in the GOP primary, former President Donald Trump.

The appearance by DeSantis before New Hampshire voters comes as Trump returned to the campaign trail in Iowa, marking the first time both Republicans were pitching themselves before voters as official candidates. 

From the podium, the 44-year-old Florida governor highlighted his eagerness to embrace conservative cultural fights and sprinkled his remarks with indirect jabs at Trump.

"Leadership is not about entertainment. Leadership is not about building a brand. Leadership is not about virtue signaling. Leadership is about producing results for the people that you represent," DeSantis said.

While appearing at campaign events in Iowa, Trump sought to capitalize off a remark by DeSantis that it felt like it would take two terms in the White House to really roll back the actions of the Biden administration — a veiled reference to Trump, who can only serve one more term.

“Who the hell wants to wait eight years?” Trump said Thursday, claiming he could unwind President Joe Biden's policies within six months.

DeSantis at another voter event in Salem on Thursday afternoon, noted that Trump had already had a chance to fix the nation's problems in his first term in office. “Why didn’t he do it in his first four years?”

In addition to DeSantis’ New Hampshire, he is planning to campaign Friday in South Carolina, another prominent state on the presidential voting calendar.

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