With Donald Trump out of the mix for the first GOP presidential debate Wednesday, Republican contenders will have to walk a thin line — making their case without turning off the former president's rock-solid supporters.
It'll be an especially tricky situation for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, according to The Hill.
"If I were thinking of it as a strategic matter, I'd like to be able to emerge from this debate as the principal non-Trump alternative," GOP strategist Scott Jennings told the news outlet.
So far in the GOP race, candidates have sidestepped direct criticism of Trump as he faces four separate indictments, leaving contenders to focus on each other Wednesday night, the strategist suggested.
"I don't think you're going to meaningfully degrade Trump in this debate, but you might score points on someone else or perhaps separate yourself from the rest of the rabble," Jennings told The Hill.
It'll also make DeSantis — in second place to Trump in primary polling so far — a prime target who'll need to "wear six suits of armor" to fend off attacks, he claimed.
According to The Hill, a debate memo from the super PAC supporting DeSantis, Never Back Down, turned up on the website of a firm owned by the PAC's chief strategist that called for DeSantis to defend Trump and attack other candidates gaining momentum, especially Ramaswamy.
But presidential debate expert Aaron Kall of the University of Michigan told The Hill the spotlight could instead make DeSantis a "punching bag" in Trump's absence — citing a GOP debate in Des Moines, Iowa, in January 2016 that Trump skipped. At that time, Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, then polling in second place, became the target.
"The headlines surrounding the debate were 'a rough night for Cruz,' because he was being attacked by all sides," Kall told The Hill. "So you're going to have Gov. DeSantis front and center and just kind of get incoming fire from both sides and the other six candidates."
Kall said DeSantis is likely ready for the attacks and knows the stakes, adding debate moderators "love" setting up conflicts between candidates to get a "back-and-forth."
"We have a two or three-person fight for finding out who is going to be the clear No. 2 to Trump and the debate could help sorting that out," he told The Hill.
An unnamed GOP strategist, however, told The Hill not every candidate will have the same goals, noting DeSantis will have a different mission from former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who's been among the most scathing critics of Trump in the race.
Christie's goal will be to get "cameras on me" going after Trump in the "most creative and colorful way," and other contenders need to consider if they want getting a "big idea" across or use an attack line that will help them stand out from others.
"That's really the choice you're looking at. Just really a few minutes that you'll have to be able to get what you want to get in," the strategist told the outlet.
Other strategists predicted without Trump, candidates will focus on policy.
"We already know how President Trump carries himself, so this is a valuable opportunity for Gov. DeSantis to differentiate himself and elevate the conversation by focusing on kitchen table issues like jobs, education and national security," Republican strategist David Capen told the outlet.
GOP strategist Rina Shah told The Hill she expects three different approaches on the stage: candidates who "tiptoe" around Trump, those who "go for the jugular" and those who "behave like they're the only thing that exists."
"This is unlike any other presidential campaign cycle we've ever been in. There's no comparison. Not even 2016 because of how much is in motion," she added.