MANCHESTER, N.H. — Congressman Dean Phillips is keeping up a hectic pace here in the Granite State ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
He’s been saying he’d be happy just to finish in the 20 percent range, considering he just started his campaign in late October and is relatively unknown on the national stage.
At a meet-and-greet event in Rochester, N.H. Sunday, Rep. Phillips called out President Joe Biden for not competing in the Democratic primary in this state.
"I think if you run for president you should show up, face the voters, walk through the snow and see the press and answer questions and do debates and do townhalls," Phillips told a room for of supporters. "I mean it ain’t rocket science my friends."
President Biden didn't register as a candidate in New Hampshire, in deference to the Democratic National Committee's decision to make South Carolina the first primary state. That is scheduled for Feb. 3.
But there's a vigorous write-in campaign here for Biden. Protesters have shown up outside Phillips events chanting, "Write in Biden!" At one such encounter Saturday, Rep. Phillips showed up with a box of coffee offering a cup to the Biden supporters.
In the latest CNN University of New Hampshire poll, 63% of Democrats said they’d write in Biden’s name Tuesday, while 10% said they would support Phillips.
But in New Hampshire, the independents, known as undeclared voters, can take part in either the Republican or Democratic primary. That's why both Phillips and Republican Nikki Haley are working to reel in support from that pool of swing voters.
"Something tells me 70% of the country doesn’t want a Trump-Biden rematch," Phillips told supporters Sunday. "I think maybe a Phillips-Haley match could be pretty good."
A different opinion poll released Sunday, by Polling USA, had Biden at 54% versus Phillips at 32% and Marianne Williamson at 3%.
While Phillips was working the crowd in Rochester Sunday, Andrew Yang was playing surrogate in Manchester. Yang, who ran for president as a Democrat in 2020, recently endorsed Phillips for the White House.
Yang walked from business to business in downtown Manchester trying to drum up support for the Phillips' intraparty challenge to the incumbent president.
"Historically, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton got 81 to 84% of the vote here in New Hampshire as incumbents," Yang told KARE. "So, if Joe ends up way lower than that there's a lot of explaining to do."
Yang became disaffected with the Democratic Party last year, and Phillips appears to be headed in the same direction. Phillips has complained that he's been virtually disowned by his fellow Democrats for running against Biden, out of concern that Biden can't win a rematch with former President Donald Trump.
Phillips in 2018 flipped Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District from red to blue, after nearly 60 years of Republican dominance. Before running for Congress, Phillips donated heavily to Democratic candidates and causes.
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