(IntegrityTimes.com) – Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips is an interesting dark horse in the 2024 presidential election. While he is a firm Democrat who has voted alongside President Biden’s stated public policy positions 100% of the time, he has openly criticized members of Republican and Democrat parties for not bringing lawmakers together. He has worked with The Problem Solvers Caucus, a bipartisan group focused on cooperation on key policy issues, and he claims that if he became president, he would have a bipartisan cabinet and host informal dinners where “red and blue” Americans could find common ground.
However, his odds are not looking promising. He is currently focused almost entirely on New Hampshire where he has already spent $2.7 million on radio, TV and digital ads. Super PACS that support his campaign have contributed an additional $2.6 million. He’s trailing behind President Biden in most of the polls by more than 30 points and yet he’s already spent more than most of the Democratic campaigns and super PACs spent in New Hampshire in 2020. He hasn’t spent anything in other states, so he has a lot riding on that key primary election.
Phillips’ campaign in New Hampshire seems to focus on the fact that President Biden is not really campaigning there. The Democratic National Committee voted to alter the party’s presidential primary calendar shifting early primaries away from Iowa and New Hampshire to states like South Carolina and Georgia to better represent diversity. While an overwhelmingly popular decision among Democrats in general, many in New Hampshire and Iowa, while generally supportive of the president opposed the changes and feel like they are being punished by their own party.
President Biden is not even on the primary ballot in New Hampshire, although a vigorous write-in campaign is still leading far ahead of Phillips. A super PAC called We Deserve Better, alleges that Phillips is seeing a surge in support that is not reflected in the numbers due to attempts to suppress the information. While the Phillips campaign is apparently exploiting President Biden’s disinterest in New Hampshire, Phillips is planning to move on to South Carolina next. While a long shot by any reckoning it will be interesting to see if New Hampshire’s Democrats feel slighted and abandoned enough by the president to vote for someone else.
Copyright 2024, IntegrityTimes.com
