South Carolina Senator and Republican presidential 2024 hopeful Tim Scott joked in Iowa that he is asking everybody to caucus for him — even a nine-year-old.
“When you’re desperate for every single vote, you’ll ask everybody. Just assume that right now I’m asking each and every one of you,” he said at Story County’s annual dinner on Tuesday,The DailyMail reported.
Sen Scott discussed his time at the Iowa State Fair when a nine-year-old girl gave him a bracelet and told him: “I want you to be president.” He then asked the child if she would caucus for him, he recounted jokingly; she was confused, Mr Scott said.
The South Carolina Republican isn’t fooling himself as to where he stands in the polls; as of Tuesday, FiveThirtyEight polls show him with 2.4 per cent, holding the seventh slot.
The 2024 candidates are all campaigning in Iowa, as the Republicans are competing for the top slot in the first-in-the-nation state.
Mr Scott also seemed pleasantly surprised with his return on investment when he alluded to his ads, which the crowd recognised.
“I say in my commercials, if you take out a loan,” he said, and the crowd responded in unison to the presidential candidate, “You pay it back.”
Tim Scott, second from left, hands out grilled pork chops at the Iowa State Fair— (REUTERS)
“Hallelujah ya’ll, this is great news,” Sen Scott said, appearing to be thrilled. ‘At least I know you’ve seen the commercials.” He continued, joking, “’I was wondering if they were buying anything with all that money I was spending in Iowa. This is good news.”
According to the outlet, Sen Scott then made another reference to his ads, saying, “If you commit a violent crime,” and waited for the audience to respond, “You got to jail.”
“They got it all down, this is great,” Mr Scott said.
FiveThirtyEight data shows former President Donald Trump having a firm lead in the race, with 54 per cent, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
