Ron DeSantis’s military service in Iraq is honorable. And, outside of political junkies, it’s little known. Think of your only vaguely political sister-in-law or your golfing buddy who occasionally listens to Joe Rogan: Do they know that Ron DeSantis was awarded the Bronze Star in Iraq while most of his former Yale and Harvard Law classmates were mid-career on Wall Street or at white-shoe law firms?

In the coming GOP primary political slugfest, street cred and a reputation for courage, self-sacrifice, and patriotism will be the coin of the realm. If he hopes to win this fight, DeSantis’s team had better make sure that every center-right voter in America knows at least one biographical fact about the Florida governor: When his country needed him, Ron DeSantis put on his nation’s cloth.

[I’m a bit surprised that we’ve gone thirty-plus years since we last had a combat veteran in the White House. George W. Bush served honorably in the National Guard, which enraged Dems at the time, but they then painted John McCain as damaged goods in the 2008 campaign. Part of the reason for the gap is that the US has not fought long large-scale wars since Vietnam and we have not had a draft since then, either. Wright’s correct, though — the DeSantis team needs to message on that consistently and widely. It may be one of the most valuable differentiators in the field. — Ed]