President Joe Biden faces a number of significant obstacles going into the 2024 election besides his ostensible decrepitude. For starters, his disapproval rating remains in the high 50s; he has been trailing former President Donald Trump in the polls; and last month, Congress authorized an impeachment inquiry into his many alleged improprieties.
For these and other caltrops to trip him up at the ballot box, he first needs to be on the ballot — something he failed to do in New Hampshire.
With the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary fast approaching, Biden exponents in the state are frenetically trying to make sure enough of the geriatric president’s remaining supporters add his name to their ballots. Failing that, the Democratic incumbent is set for yet another major embarrassment.
Strategic failure to file
Iowa and New Hampshire have historically kicked off the nomination process both for the GOP and the Democratic Party. However, Biden’s pitiful performance in the 2020 New Hampshire Democratic primary, where he placed fifth, appears to have prompted the geriatric president and the Democratic National Committee to look for greener pastures. They decided to award the top spot in the 2024 primary calendar to South Carolina, a state where Biden had a 29-point win in the 2020 Democratic race but ultimately lost to Trump and would likely lose to Trump again.
The DNC scheduled the South Carolina primary to lead the party’s nomination process on Feb. 3, expecting New Hampshire to follow days later, but the Granite State refused to accept the slight. After all, by virtue of its own laws, it couldn’t.
New Hampshire passed legislation in 1975 requiring the state to hold its primary before any other comparable contest. Although the law and date could possibly be changed, Republicans in Concord and the secretary of state who sets the date are less than keen to help the Democrats overcome their internal struggles.
After a lengthy standoff with the state, Biden’s handlers decided ultimately that he would not file in the state, which is now set to hold its Democratic primary on Jan. 23.
The write-in campaign
Since Biden’s name will not be printed on the ballots in New Hampshire later this month, campaigners have been working ardently since October to prompt prospective voters to write in the president’s name.
Politico indicated at the outset that veteran Democratic operatives and politicians, including strategist Jim Demers and former New Hampshire Democratic Party chairwoman Kathy Sullivan, were leading the charge on the write-in campaign. Their group filed last year as a political action committee under the name Granite State Write-In.
This so-called “grassroots” group stresses on its website that “it’s important to show the world that thousands of New Hampshire voters are supporting President Joe Biden as he stands up for our freedoms, pushes back on the MAGA extremists, keeps us safe and strong around the world, and builds an economy that works for everyone.”
Even though the decision not to file was ultimately Biden’s, Granite State Write-In blamed “misguided DNC rules” for leaving his name off the ballot.
Struggling to save Biden from another embarrassment
A source familiar with Granite State Write-In’s efforts, apparently executed on a tiny budget of $70,000, recently told the New York Post, “A write-in campaign like this is unprecedented and it’s very difficult to do.”
“There are definitely challenges,” continued the source. “And there’s no question that because [Biden’s] not on the ballot, whatever number he gets at the polls will understate his actual support.”
The Post reported that over 1,200 people have so far signed onto the “shoestring effort.”
On the day of the primary, volunteers associated with the PAC will reportedly be present at the polls to tell Biden supporters what to do.
While Biden remains the front-runner ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Democratic challenger Rep. Dean Phillips (Minn.), who has focused his energies on the Granite State, has been gaining on him in recent weeks. According to the American Research Group’s latest poll, Biden leads Phillips in the state 58% to 21%.
“A sitting American president chose to not be on the ballot in the first-in-the-nation primary state,” Phillips told the Post in December. “I think it’s a symptom of a much broader disease, and that is a lack of respect for voters all around the country, including here.”
The RealClearPolling average for Biden’s support nationwide in the 2024 Democratic primary is 68.9%. However, the Post noted that in New Hampshire, his support is presently only at 47.3%.
The difference between those polls and the ballot is that Biden’s name won’t be printed on the latter.
Perhaps looking to spare Biden another public fall, Massachusetts’ Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, a New Hampshire native, tried to give Biden a boost in the Granite State this week. Healey held a call Thursday with leaders of the New Hampshire write-in campaign, encouraging Democratic voters to remember their deeply unpopular president at the polls, reported MassLive.com.
Time will tell if the last-minute scrambles by Healey or Granite State Write-In will pay off for the 81-year-old Democrat.
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