Conventional wisdom suggests it will be difficult for Ron DeSantis to close his monumentally lopsided polling gap to Donald Trump without throwing some punches, and taking a few in return. The delta between the two candidates is particularly pronounced at the national level, where the former president leads by around 30 points, depending on how the average of the polls are weighted. But the difference isn’t quite as daunting in early primary states, where DeSantis is 18 or so points behind in Iowa, for example, and 21 points behind in New Hampshire. If the Florida governor’s plan is to win one or two of those contests, in order to slingshot his momentum into an unstoppable force, DeSantis will need a message that resonates not just at the national level but, critically, at the state level as well.