NASHUA, New Hampshire - United States Representative Dean Phillips, attempting a longshot bid for the Democratic nomination, on Jan 20 assailed President Joe Biden as “unelectable and weak” as he tried to take advantage of the President’s absence from New Hampshire’s primary.
Mr Biden did not register for the New Hampshire vote after national Democrats opted to move their first primary to South Carolina, which offers a more diverse population.
But Mr Biden’s supporters are mounting a write-in campaign in New Hampshire to ensure a win in the state on Jan 23, and a CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released on Jan 21 showed Mr Biden drawing 63 per cent of the primary vote in that state, with Mr Phillips at 10 per cent.
The Democratic National Committee has ruled that the New Hampshire election effectively will not count and the winner will not amass New Hampshire’s 23 delegates in the march to the party’s nomination.
Mr Phillips, a wealthy Democrat from Minnesota, said during a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire, that he hoped to do well in voting on Jan 23.
He added that a strong showing by him would be getting upwards of 20 per cent or more of the vote – “going from zero to somewhere in the 20s would be pretty awesome, I think”.
“Sadly, it’s going to demonstrate that our incumbent President is unelectable and weak, and I think it’s going to show this country that there’s a candidate here who can actually do here what has been promised for generations,” Mr Phillips told reporters, after addressing dozens of people at a senior citizen activity centre.
He also noted Mr Biden’s age – 81.
“If you listen to the voters, people feel he’s at a stage of life that makes it incompatible to leading the free world. And the same is true of Donald Trump,” said Mr Phillips, 55.
Trump, 77, is the leading Republican candidate. The former president was defeated by Mr Biden in his bid for a second term in 2020.
The White House has repeatedly dismissed concerns about Mr Biden’s age, though polls show voters are concerned about it.
“Our perspective is that it’s not about age, it’s about the President’s experience,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Mr Biden’s 81st birthday. “We have to judge him by what he’s done, not by his numbers.”
The Biden re-election campaign did not respond to a request for comment and has avoided commenting directly on Mr Phillips’ challenge. When the congressman launched his challenge in October, it issued a statement saying Mr Biden’s “campaign is hard at work mobilising the winning coalition that President Biden can uniquely bring together to once again beat the Maga (Make America Great Again) Republicans next November”.
Minnesota’s Democratic Governor, Mr Tim Walz, in a fund-raising e-mail at the time, said: “You know, I have to say this about Minnesota: It’s a great state, full of great people. And sometimes they do crazy things.”
The New Hampshire primary on Jan 23 offers the first at-the-polls gauge of Mr Biden’s political strength this election cycle, and the unprecedented situation will be closely watched amid polls showing him tied with Trump.
A poor showing by Mr Biden against Mr Phillips and self-help author Marianne Williamson would likely fuel concerns that the President is weak heading into the general election.
Both Mr Phillips and Ms Williamson appeared to have little chance of defeating Mr Biden.
Backers of the write-in campaign are staging events throughout the weekend to educate voters on how to write in Mr Biden’s name and generate support for him.
Ms Williamson told several dozen people at an event in Manchester that she also felt Mr Biden was weak and questioned the wisdom of nominating him for a second term just because he beat Trump in 2020.
“To say he beat Trump once and therefore he’ll beat him again – for me, it’s like saying to an actor who’s nominated for an Oscar twice. ‘He won last time so it’s only reasonable to think he’ll win this time.’ Well, it’s a different movie,” she said. REUTERS
