In a 2024 presidential primary defined by longshot candidates, Hutchinson may be the most stubborn of all, still plowing forward while barely registering in the polls. His candidacy is testing the limits of just how long a dignified, accomplished conservative — the kind who brought a southern state’s Republican Party into relevance — can withstand rejection from his own party’s base. And it’s all in the hope that somehow, some way, his message will break through.

“Have y’all made up your mind on the race yet?” Hutchinson asks the first table he approaches, two men sipping coffee, after running through an abbreviated version of his resume: Reagan conservative, former governor, former head of the DEA and former congressman who wants to take the Republican Party in a “different direction from Donald Trump.”

(via NRO)

[He may be testing the limits of *something*, but it’s not his capacity for rejection. It may be his capacity for self-delusion and need for attention. If Hutchinson really wanted to take the GOP in a different direction, he would have exercised some serious introspection, realized that he couldn’t possibly win, and worked behind someone who could have challenged Trump rather than dilute the challenge through his candidacy. Either DeSantis or Haley would have welcomed his support. Instead, he’s doing self-promotion less than three weeks before Iowa’s caucuses. — Ed]