Joe Biden will be forced to change campaign strategy & emerge from his bunker with Dean Phillips’ challenge, expert says
JOE Biden's fresh competition for the Democratic nomination could severely impact the president's chances of re-election, top political analysts have warned.
Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips launched his own bid for the White House on Friday.
The Presidential challenger was surrounded by his supporters outside of the New Hampshire State House in Concord when he announced the news.
“I am running for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States because, my friends, it is time for a change,” the third-term congressman said.
“And I am ready to lead our great nation to a secure and a more prosperous future.”
In an interview earlier in the day, Phillips told CNN that he felt the need to challenge Biden, for fear he would lose the next election to former president Donald Trump.
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He allegedly tried to convince Biden to not run for re-election and instead convince other Democratic candidates to run in the primary.
However, once he realized that was not going to happen, he decided to run himself.
“This was not about me,” Phillips told the network.
“But my inability to attract other candidates, to inspire the president to recognize that it is time, compels me to serve my country because it appears that President Joe Biden is going to lose the next election.”
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Biden launched his bid for a second term on April 25 of this year, and it had been thought he would avoid a competitive primary as several potential 2024 rivals opted against challenging the commander-in-chief.
California governor Gavin Newsom has already ruled out a bid for the White House – even if Biden did not seek re-election.
Vice President Kamala Harris has struggled with poor polling numbers throughout her term in office.
Pete Buttigieg, the Transportation Secretary, came under fire amid widespread commercial airline delays and his response to the East Palestine, Ohio train derailment incident.
And, Bernie Sanders, who ran for the Democratic nomination ahead of the 2020 vote, ruled his name out of the race.
Top political expert Frank Luntz warned that history is not on President Biden’s side now that he faces a challenge.
He told The U.S. Sun: “Whenever a sitting president has to undergo a primary, they’re severely weakened and usually indicates that they won’t win re-election.
“In 1992, Pat Buchanan challenged George H.W. Bush; in 1980, Jimmy Carter was challenged by Ted Kennedy.
“And, in 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson was challenged by Eugene McCarthy.”
LBJ abandoned his re-election campaign after he had a disappointing showing in the 1968 Democratic Party primary in New Hampshire.
In the run-up to the 1992 election, Buchanan criticized Bush after he reneged on his infamous 1988 pledge “Read my lips, no new taxes.”
Buchanan was also a vociferous critic of the Bush Administration’s approach to foreign policy.
When an official is challenged in a primary after serving in office, it sends a loud and clear message that their constituency isn’t pleased.
Moe Vela
Luntz revealed that Buchanan’s bid for the nomination “greatly affected” Bush’s re-election campaign.
Author Marianne Williamson, 70, was the first Democrat to challenge Biden but she isn't a serious threat.
Her campaign launch focused on slogans such as “A New Beginning” and “Disrupt the System.”
She told supporters: "The status quo will not disrupt itself… that's our job."
Matt Bennett, the co-founder of the Third Way think tank, told The Hill: “She [Williamson] is not a credible candidate in any respect.
“She certainly isn’t going to be challenging to win the nomination.”
Moe Vela, who served as an advisor to Biden during the Obama Administration, said there is a “tremendous power” in incumbency, but warned that a primary challenge is a sign that not all constituents are satisfied.
He said: “When an official is challenged in a primary after serving in office, it sends a loud and clear message that their constituency isn’t pleased."
But, Vela said primaries are part of the “beauty of democracy.”
He added: “It's more of a message about the beauty of democracy and the freedom we have in voting.
“It’s the bedrock and the soul of democracy that people can primary current office holders.”
RAY OF HOPE
However, David Richards, a politics expert at the University of Lynchburg, does not think that Phillips will become the Democratic nominee.
He told the U.S. Sun: "I don't think that Biden has any real reason to worry about Dean Phillips launching a bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination."
Richards went on to say that historically challenges that go against a Presidential incumbent don't tend to do well, especially with Biden's approval rating in the high 70s among Democrats.
“But Phillips does raise a troubling point, that given a choice, many Democrats would rather Biden not run," he added.
"Biden will be 82 if he starts a second term, and at 86 when he finishes, the oldest sitting President (as he already is).
"Biden's 'vote for' numbers when Kennedy was still running as a Democrat was lower. Most Democrats would vote for Biden, but if given another choice, close to half might vote for another Democrat.
"So Biden might have to run a bit harder if Phillips gains any traction and based on recent polling by Harris and The Messenger, it looks like he will have a fight as it is against Trump."
Richards does, however, believe that having a challenger could be the boost that Biden needs in his campaign.
“One potential upside could be that if Biden does have to campaign harder against Phillips, it gets him out into the electorate. Biden might benefit from the excitement a challenger would bring to the race."
'ABJECT FAILURE'
Biden’s administration has been dogged by inflation, Covid, the southern border crisis, and America’s bungled 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Sean Spicer, who served as press secretary in the Trump Administration, said: “The Biden Administration has been an abject failure – both domestic and foreign policy-wise.”
He previously told The U.S Sun: “Joe Biden has done more damage in two years to the country than any president has done over eight.”
Biden was widely slammed after the US chaotically evacuated Afghanistan.
Critics have claimed the retreat undid 20 years of work, damaged American credibility on the world stage, and increased the risk of a humanitarian crisis.
Former acting defense secretary Christopher Miller told The U.S. Sun that the withdrawal encouraged adversaries such as Russia and China.
Spicer blasted the exit as he described the way America withdrew as “frankly disgraceful.”
Biden was blamed after 13 service members were killed in an ISIS-K attack at Kabul airport in August 2021.
Domestically, Biden has faced challenges relating to inflation and the southern border crisis.
The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic saw widespread supply chain shortages and energy prices have skyrocketed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Last year, inflation in the US hit 9.1 percent - its highest figure in four decades.
Florida Senator Rick Scott claimed that high inflation was Joe Biden's "fault" and said he was "asleep at the wheel."
Republicans have railed against Biden's approach to immigration, describing policies as "lax."
The president promised to reform immigration when he entered office in January 2021, but 2022 saw a record high of encounters.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection data revealed that there were more than 2.3million border crossings in 2022.
Republican lawmakers have often tried to associate the fentanyl crisis and drug smuggling with federal immigration policies.
