Tim Scott campaign to donors: Stay calm, carry on, write checks

Tim Scott’s campaign is moving to tamp down expectations for next week’s presidential primary debate, while seeking to calm donors’ nerves about the lack of movement in national polls.

“I’d encourage you to remember that these nights are merely a single moment in time,” Scott’s campaign manager, Jennifer DeCasper, wrote in a memo to donors obtained by POLITICO. “Any candidate who hopes to truly capitalize on it must be disciplined and built for the long haul.”

The memo, an effort to frame expectations for the next debate, follows the first debate in August during which the South Carolina senator faded into the background for long stretches, sparking concern among some supporters. It does nothing to suggest that Scott will deviate from once again being Mr. Nice Guy on stage, arguing he ultimately stands to benefit from his likable demeanor.

Without name-checking other candidates, DeCasper wrote, “Press hype or a few snappy lines on national television don’t change the fundamentals of a campaign.”

In the memo, Scott’s campaign manager cites internal polling that shows him with “the best net favorability score among the candidates — regardless of the state.” She notes his campaign has the second-most primary cash on hand, with enough money to last through the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24, asserting the campaign has been judicious with media buys and has had success with low-dollar donors and grassroots supporters.

“We saw a lot of ink spilled in the wake of the last debate on ‘who’s up,’ ‘who’s down,’ and how the entire campaign seemingly is won or lost in 90 minutes on a stage in Milwaukee,” DeCasper wrote. “I’m here to tell you to ignore the noise and focus on the facts in front of us.”

A spokesperson for Scott declined to comment.

The memo comes after Scott made headlines for issuing his sharpest criticism yet of former president Donald Trump, over his comments on abortion, after largely avoiding taking any swings at his fellow Republicans, including the ex-president.

Trump, however, continues to dominate national and early state polls, and there has been little movement in polling among his challengers, including Scott. In national polling, Scott consistently polls in the low to mid single digits, although he has performed somewhat better in early state polls in places like Iowa, New Hampshire and his home state of South Carolina.

Next week at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, Scott and other GOP candidates will have their second opportunity to lay out their case on national television for why they should be elected. But with Trump skipping the debate to give a speech in Detroit aimed at union workers, the former president may overshadow them.

Scott’s campaign has asked the Republican National Committee to position candidates on stage in the next debate based on early state polling rather than national polls — a move that would put him in a more desirable spot on stage. At the last debate, with eight candidates, Scott was positioned toward the edge of the stage, second from the end.

For the second debate, the Republican National Committee is requiring candidates to show they have at least 50,000 unique donors, and that they have 3 percent support in two qualifying national polls, or in a combination of one national poll and polls from two early states. The RNC has not yet announced how many candidates will officially qualify for the debate or how candidates will be arranged on stage at the Reagan Library.