My goal here is to stay as neutral as the Swiss but give my honest pros and cons for each one for when debate and primary season rolls around. Today, we’ll look at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

The case for Governor Ron DeSantis:

1. Executive experience – He has been a very successful and impactful governor of the third-largest state in population (22 million people). And that number has grown significantly thanks in large part to the policies of DeSantis and the state’s Republican majorities in the legislature. Assuming he wins reelection against Charlie Crist this November, he’ll enter the 2024 presidential sweepstakes with 5-plus years of real-world executive experience in a large, diverse state. If the White House is the Major Leagues, the Florida governor would be the top AAA prospect.

2. He’s Trump without the downside – He’s fearless when dealing with the media, who loathes him, by the way. He does not accept false premises in questions from reporters, and often uses the media as a foil in explaining why his policies are what they are. But he’s disciplined. He communicates in a way that both resonates with a majority of Floridians without the ego we saw during the Trump era that ended up driving away so many independents and conservative seniors and suburban women.

3. Policies – Whether it’s his immigration policy, sending Florida law enforcement to Arizona and Texas to help shore up border control, his shepherding through the removal of Critical Race Theory from public school classrooms, to his successful pushback at Disney’s woke criticism by taking away their autonomous zone in Orlando, DeSantis has scored one political victory after another. But perhaps his biggest accomplish was being the first to recognize the inanity of the national COVID pandemic policy and how it affected both businesses and schools. He was demonized by the White House for being among the first to reopen his state, he weathered the storm, and benefitted enormously as Florida was the first state to economically recover from the shutdown.

4. Age – DeSantis would be 46 if elected in 2024, making him the same age both Bill Clinton and Barack Obama were when elected. He would be the first Republican nominee under 50 on the ticket in my lifetime, bringing much-needed younger blood and energy to the country’s problems.

5. Military experience – DeSantis did a stint in the U.S. Navy for six years, including time served in Iraq. He will have a national security and foreign policy based on the perspective of someone who actually served as the tip of the spear and recognizes the need for a robust military. He also served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as a Congressman from Florida before retiring from Congress to run for governor. He will have foreign policy chops, unlike other potential contenders that are governors.

6. Judges – DeSantis in just his first term has had the opportunity to nominate six justices to Florida’s Supreme Court, changing it from a 4-3 liberal majority to a solidly 6-1 conservative majority. His picks have been stellar, so much so that two of his picks got airlifted by Donald Trump and appointed to the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, necessitating DeSantis to go to the well a couple extra times. It would stand to reason that he could be relied upon to put good judges on the federal courts and Supreme Court as well.

7. Timing – Regardless of what Trump does, DeSantis almost has to get in this cycle. His time is now. He’ll never be as popular, with the donor backing, and the national name recognition. If he were to wait, his skill set wouldn’t diminish, but his public platform from which to run would not be nearly as strong. It’s go time.

The case against Ron DeSantis:

1. He’s too Trumpy – NeverTrumper, Inc. isn’t just satisfied with hating on the former President and making sure he’s never near the White House again. The cottage industry that NeverTrumpers are trying to establish includes people who they deem to be too similar to Trump. This includes DeSantis. He is deemed to be too feisty, too combative, too willing to use his powers to affect change. He’s just not ‘go along, get along’ enough for their sensitivities.

2. Lack of experience – Believe it or not, that’s the criticism of Ron DeSantis members of Team Trump have been floating as of late as an attack line should Trump and DeSantis find themselves as opponents in the 2024 primary season. Yes, he’s a governor, but that’s not the same thing as running a large national or international corporation or a federal agency, they’ll say. He’s just not ready for prime time.

3. Picks too many unnecessary fights – The Disney/woke pushback episode was an issue where DeSantis staked out the ground that Disney had no business injecting themselves into an anti-woke education bill wildly popular with the state’s population, and made Disney pay a price for their misguided activism. Potential centrist voters across the country thought that was going a little too far for their liking, that he should have focused more on solving problems than seeking retribution.

4. Being the frontrunner – Without Trump in the race, DeSantis is by far ahead of any other contender in polling and name ID. Therefore, all slings and arrows by other Republican would-be candidates, Beltway media, and even other potential Democratic primary challengers to Joe Biden like California Governor Gavin Newsom, will be headed DeSantis’ way. Thus far, DeSantis has withstood the attacks. The question remains whether he’ll get so bloodied up in the primary process that he fades as the attacks continue.

5. Age – At 46, he will be viewed as too young to be president by a lot of voters in this country. Age is a double-edged sword in American politics. 50-60 seems to be the sweet spot. Over 60 is starting to be too long in the tooth to be up to the task, under 50 is not seasoned enough to be trusted with this big a job.

6. He’s too gaffe prone – After what will be four years of Joe Biden, this hardly seems like a valid criticism, but in his early days running for governor, DeSantis said, “The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up” by electing his African-American Democratic opponent, Andrew Gillum. It was cringeworthy, and DeSantis, like anyone running for office, will occasionally say something clunky they wish they could take back. Expect montages cherry-picked from DeSantis speeches and press conferences to make him look like he’s at war with the English language.

7. He’s actually too cautious…for now – Even though you see him frequently on safe places like Fox News, DeSantis’ media team has been very leery about what media outside of Florida they will do and in what setting. It’s actually pretty wise until after his reelection this fall and he declares for president, but it will be viewed as DeSantis actually being too cautious. Conservatives want someone who is on offense, not defense. The attack line will be ‘sure, DeSantis can talk the talk, but will he walk the walk? Will he actually take on the mainstream media and the establishment in the White House? Or will be fold once the heat comes his way?”

Again, whether you are for or against DeSantis, I’m not stipulating that all of the reasons for or against are fair. I’m merely suggesting that if you’re for him, these will be the reasons advocates present. If you’re against DeSantis, these will be some of the knocks on him you’ll see and hear.

Future columns will continue to look at up to a dozen other possible Republicans that are noodling over a 2024 presidential run. I look forward to seeing your comments about this column on DeSantis and the series as a whole.

Next up, later in the week: Donald Trump.