The post-GOP debate fallout is always interesting to watch. Numbers shift, analyses are shared, insults are traded, and predictions are a dime a dozen. 

As RedState's been covering, polls are showing that the first winner of the debate seems to be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who remains second in terms of the GOP's likely primary winner. While many made little of his performance, his increasing approval rating as well as his decreasing unfavorability rating may reveal that the traction of the debate stage is where his campaign will start gaining real speed. 

DeSantis was going over what went down in a post-debate interview, and something he said caught my attention that I think is worth pondering. 

“The thing about the debate is, you know, nobody hit me so I wasn’t gonna get involved in that scrum," said DeSantis. " I know those guys were going back and forth."

"What I did with 100% of my time was to speak directly to the American people about our vision to reverse the country’s decline, what specifically we need to do, and most importantly what I’ve already done to show that I can do this nationally," he continued. "Of anyone on the stage, I’m the only guy that’s actually delivered on all the things that our voters care about.”

“The thing about the debate is, you know, nobody hit me so I wasn’t gonna get involved in that scrum. I know those guys were going back and forth. What I did with 100% of my time was to speak directly to the American people about our vision to reverse the country’s decline, what… pic.twitter.com/EcVseFcHX0

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) August 25, 2023

"Nobody hit me." 

That's pretty odd considering DeSantis was the top dawg on that stage. Usually polling higher than everyone else makes you a prime target as they try to confront you and whittle you down. 

But no one wanted to take a shot at DeSantis? 

I'm sure a lot of conspiracy theories can be cooked up here, but DeSantis might very well have touched on why. Florida is proof of his leadership, which is stellar whether you want to vote for him or not. Before the election, he was America's favorite governor because of his ability to take on the left without blinking, as well as turning his state into a conservative powerhouse. 

Perhaps the others didn't attack him because all DeSantis had to do was hold Florida up as an example and ask where their examples of how good they are at their job are hiding. Runner-up Vivek Ramaswamy, for instance, probably wouldn't want his obvious inexperience compared to DeSantis's demonstrable successes, so he steered clear of confronting him about anything. 

Chris Christie had nothing to truly gain as he's viewed as less a Republican and more of a Democrat-lite candidate, and for all of Christie's faults, he's not stupid enough to highlight that contrast on a debate stage. 

In fact, the safe bet for most candidates seemed to be to attack Ramaswamy, and as RedState previously covered...they did. This especially goes for Nikki Haley who does have a lot of experience in multiple parts of our government...but despite that, she too never truly went after DeSantis either. 

Guesses as to why no one wanted to go after Florida's governor can abound, but it's safe to bet that few people on that stage had much to benefit from doing so. 

This is great for DeSantis, but I doubt this will hold out. In fact, I imagine that people will want to see DeSantis hold his own in a debate against his opponents to test his mettle. This will likely happen if the pattern continues and GOP candidates avoid the big fish in the water. There's no way it won't elicit comments from voters about their lack of aggression toward DeSantis, and suspicions that they're afraid grow. 

But as it stands, DeSantis has more to gain than lose by not being attacked. At some point, someone is going to have to make a move against him if they're going to appear strong, but if they do, their strategy had better be enough to make people ignore Florida's success.