Team Biden acts like New Hampshire primary doesn't count, but it might not turn out that way
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President Joe Biden and the Democrats have gravely warned America that democracy is on the ballot in 2024, but if so, why are they disenfranchising Democratic voters in the New Hampshire primary, and how is he performing so poorly there anyway?
The party of Jefferson and Jackson is punishing the Granite State for refusing to allow South Carolina to take its place as the Democrats’ first-in-the-nation primary, and the punishment is that their votes simply won’t count.
The hope was that this would make the nation ignore the contest, but a pesky young Democrat congressman from Minnesota named Dean Phillips may make Biden regret this rash and antidemocratic strategy.
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To hear Democrats tell this tale, the elevation of South Carolina is a much-needed and long-overdue change, allowing a more diverse state to replace lily-white New Hampshire, because, of course, it is always about race.
President Joe Biden isn't officially running in the New Hampshire primary. Voters might still send him a tough message. (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
But are we really to believe that it is just a coincidence that New Hampshire voters humiliated Biden in 2020, where he came in fifth with an anemic 8% of the vote, while his victory in South Carolina saved his campaign?
In fact, this is pure politics, of the very worst kind.
Sometimes, though, politics backfires and Biden is looking at a potential disaster when Democratic voters from Manchester to Gorham head to the polls on Tuesday.
Yes, that’s right, because you see, New Hampshire ignored the Democratic Party, they are holding their storied first primary as usual, even if it doesn’t count. And not only that, by his own choice, Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. isn’t even on the ballot.
But Dean Phillips is.
Now some polling shows the Minnesota dark horse as high as 20-25%, with Biden hovering around 50%, a number so bad for an incumbent that it might not be survivable in a general election.
Prior to Donald Trump, the last two sitting presidents to lose reelection bids were Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush. Both won New Hampshire with about 50% but saw serious challenges from Ted Kennedy and Pat Buchanan, respectively.
This is precisely the scenario that the Democrats’ cynical ploy was meant to avoid.
But are we really to believe that it is just a coincidence that New Hampshire voters humiliated Biden in 2020, where he came in fifth with an anemic 8% of the vote, while his victory in South Carolina saved his campaign?
Pay no attention to the New Hampshire voters behind the curtain, the party bellowed, but the problem is, we can all see through it.
And here’s the thing, we in the news media, not to mention voters across the country are under absolutely no obligation to ignore it if Phillips, who nobody had heard of two weeks ago, puts up a big number.
Sorry team Biden, that is a big story whether your guy chose to put his name on the ballot or not.
And Phillips, for his part, is not resting on his laurels, accepting Biden’s inevitably. He has a cracker jack campaign team, that is interestingly comprised of key Andrew Yang 2020 staff. Billionaire Bill Ackman just gave his super PAC a cool million bucks, and he’s blanketing New Hampshire like snow during a Nor'easter.
Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn, during a campaign stop, Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
As Apollo Creed’s corner man said of Rocky Balboa, "he doesn’t know it's a damn show, he thinks it's a damn fight."
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way; no Don Quixote was supposed to tilt his spear toward the windmill of New Hampshire with no actual delegates on the line, but now Biden is defending himself against another New England nightmare.
New Hampshire’s motto is "Live Free or Die," and these people are going to vote whether the Democratic National Committee likes it or not, which, let's be honest, is rather refreshing.
Biden insists that democracy is on the ballot this year because people like democracy a lot more than they like Biden, but actions speak louder than words.
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The Democratic Party’s message to New Hampshire has been, you don’t matter, we don’t like your demographics, and you will be ignored.
But Democrats in New Hampshire may well have their own message for party leadership and a president sinking in the polls, and that message may well be anybody but Joe.
Don’t sleep on the Democrats in New Hampshire, don’t let Biden and the party pull this fast one because history tells us that incumbent presidents who flounder in this primary do not get second terms.
After Tuesday, Joe Biden could be looking at the one thing he thought he would never see, a serious and dangerous primary challenge.
And that is exactly what the American people deserve.
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David Marcus is a columnist living in West Virginia and the author of "Charade: The COVID Lies That Crushed A Nation."
