When you’re the governor of a state, you’re a big, important deal.

Your whims can take the force of the law. The stroke of a pen can open or close schools, help or harm major industries and, in cases involving the death penalty, decide whether a person lives or dies.

A governor who wins the election in a major state, say California, Texas or Florida, is even more powerful and perhaps even more convinced of his genius and political prowess. (Who is going to abuse them?)

Inevitably, Washington beckons, as it did for newly reelected Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who formally, unfavorably entered the Republican presidential contest on Wednesday with a glitchy announcement on a sputtering Twitter livestream.

As if on schedule, DeSantis learned a lesson that other gubernatorial grandees quickly grasped: Despite their high regard for themselves, there’s absolutely nothing like being a presidential candidate.

And what’s more, all the glory they enjoyed at home promises no success once they cross state lines to seek the White House.

It’s a totally exalted experience unlike any other in the political world, said Don Sipple, who worked at the then-California Gov. Pete Wilson’s winning re-election campaign in 1994 and losing presidential candidate in 1996. The control, the magnification of mistakes. It’s a torture test.

Dave Carney agreed. He helped steer Rick Perry’s career as the longest-serving governor in Texas history and suffered in his failed bid for the White House in 2012.

It’s not getting any faster, Carney said. It’s not just taking the card and doubling it or tripling it or quadrupling it. It’s a different pace. And it’s another set of problems in state after state after state.

None of this is to suggest that DeSantis cannot or will not be the Republican nominee in 2024, or become the nation’s 47th president.

He’s stumbled in recent months, demonstrating his foreign policy inexperience and leaning even more aggressively into his hateful vendetta with Disney, one of Florida’s largest and most important employers.

DeSantis’ crackdown has scraped much of the shine off November’s 19-point re-election victory and encouraged other Republicans to join the GOP race and run against the frontrunner, former President Trump.

More importantly, DeSantis is making trips to the states of Iowa and New Hampshire where the first rounds of voting are being held, and voters’ look-me-feel-me-touch-me anticipation there has revealed a candidate with the social skills of a recluse and the charisma of a wet cardboard. box.

That said, every presidential candidate goes through at least one rough patch in his or her campaign. Those who triumph learn from experience, adapt and improve, and don’t confuse their past success with more than it’s worth.

Even a nation-state like California, home to nearly 40 million people and the world’s fifth (or fourth, depending on who you believe) economy, is no substitute for the nation as a whole. In fact, as Wilson proved, the skills required to acquire a statewide office here and other giants like Florida are primarily the ability to raise a ton of money to pay for wall-to-wall TV advertising , not automatically of great service elsewhere.

This is especially true in the more sparsely populated states at the top of the political calendar.

Money is very important, said Carney, who operates out of New Hampshire, and good TV ads. A good message, good digital execution.

But, he continued, you can’t do one event in a state and leave, like a gubernatorial candidate walks into a town just long enough to raise a bushel of money and make the six o’clock news. You really need to invest in quality time with people.

Think of a run for president as a kind of steeplechase, the path littered with all sorts of obstacles.

Different rules in each state for collecting delegates. Different rules to get on the ballot paper. Various political personalities in need of care and nurturing. And, last but not least, local concerns and cultural idiosyncrasies that can easily trip those arriving uninitiated.

There are parochialisms that come into play in a presidential contest that you don’t see in a state contest, Sipple said.

For example, in Missouri, where he has run a number of campaigns, the pronunciation of the place is very important to certain people.

Those in the remote rural areas think it should be Missou-rah, Sipple explained. Elsewhere, residents think it should be Missour-ee. And they will give you a discount if you are wrong.

And woe to the candidates who visit Nevada, one of the most important early voting states, and tell the public how happy they are to be in Ne-VAH-duh.

The success of another Texas governor is instructive.

Not only was George W. Bush a smooth one-on-one campaigner, he worked many years longer and more diligently than Perry, Wilson or DeSantis to cultivate allies across the country and lay the groundwork for his eventual presidential run in 2000 (His political pedigree and famous last name didn’t hurt.)

Sipple, who helped Bush to his first term as governor of Texas in 1994, said success in a major state only allows you to compete at a higher level than you’ve ever done before.

Or to put it in a way that DeSantis, a college baseball star at Yale, might appreciate, winning a landslide in Florida is like being a phenomenon at the triple-A level in baseball’s minor leagues. It’s impressive. But you still haven’t proven you can throw in the major league.

That is the test DeSantis faces in the coming weeks and months.