{"id":29438,"date":"2023-10-28T12:34:43","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T19:34:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=29438"},"modified":"2023-10-28T12:39:01","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T19:39:01","slug":"29438","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2023\/10\/28\/29438\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean Phillips launches bid for president. \u2018It could be the end of his political career.\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Minnesota lawmaker is betting big on New Hampshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Campaign ad: https:\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1155968404\/r1WF6V0Pl_default\/index.html?videoId=6339928476112<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Phillips is squaring off against Biden, who\u2019s sitting on $91 million in campaign cash with the entire party machinery arrayed behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By ELENA SCHNEIDER<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

10\/27\/2023 05:00 AM EDT (Politico.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CONCORD, N.H. \u2014 The presidential campaign Dean Phillips will launch on Friday is such a longshot that some of his colleagues call it a vanity project. Other top Democrats privately deem it a mid-life crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may also be the clearest distillation to date of the undercurrent of discontent with Joe Biden among Democratic Party voters, even if it\u2019s not likely to represent much of a genuine threat to the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips, a millionaire businessperson, sees his quixotic bid differently. In private conversations, the Minnesota Democrat has stressed that voters need a generational alternative to the 80-year-old president. A half-dozen people who have spoken directly to him say he has sincerely described feeling something akin to obligation to primary Biden, while also expressing concern about Biden\u2019s ability to beat former President Donald Trump a second time. He is \u201cseeing a problem that everyone sees, but no one is talking about,\u201d said one of those people, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. They described Phillips as \u201cfrustrated\u201d by it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was really earnest in his presentation of it. He framed it as this revelation he had when he was in Vietnam, visiting the site of his father\u2019s death,\u201d said another person who spoke to Phillips, citing the trip the lawmaker took last spring<\/a> to the place where his father was killed in a helicopter crash during the Vietnam War. \u201cBut I don\u2019t think he understands the institutional forces that he is going to be up against and how \u2014 even if a lot of Democrats privately share some of his fears \u2014 no one is going to line up behind him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean Phillips: ‘Joe Biden is going to lose the next election’Share<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/imasdk.googleapis.com\/js\/core\/bridge3.599.0_en.html#goog_1300261225Play Video<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, Phillips told these people he wanted to publicly recruit another candidate to this effort. In August, he called for a \u201cmoderate governor\u201d<\/a> to step up. \u201cI thought there was a way for him to raise this concern, identify if there was space for another candidate, get someone else in, and then gracefully bow out and resume being a member of Congress,\u201d said a third person who spoke to Phillips directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNow, I feel like he missed the window to land this plane,\u201d the person added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, Phillips himself decided to run \u2014 formally filing paperwork<\/a> for \u201cDean 24, Inc.\u201d to the Federal Elections Commission on Thursday night. Several people said the campaign Phillips is likely to mount will bear a strong resemblance to his 2018 congressional bid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During that contest, Phillips shunned much of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee\u2019s advice, relying on his deep marketing background instead. He drove a 1960 International Harvester milk truck to 32 cities and towns across his suburban Minneapolis-based House district, running a retail-heavy election. He argued for spending less on TV than on digital ads, while largely refusing to go negative on his Republican opponent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His approach infuriated many Democrats in Washington. He won anyway, flipping a seat that hadn\u2019t elected a Democrat in decades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Signs of Phillips dusting off that playbook are already evident. A \u201cDean Phillips for President\u201d bus, seen recently driving around New Hampshire by two operatives in the state, is tagged with a 2018 slogan: \u201cEveryone\u2019s invited.\u201d The \u201cgovernment repair truck\u201d he used in 2018 is making another appearance, too, repainted with \u201cDean Phillips for President.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe wants to scale his 2018 campaign to New Hampshire, if not to the national level,\u201d said one of the people who has spoken directly with the representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rep.
Dean Phillips\u2019 New Hampshire-focused bid comes at a particularly fraught moment for Democrats in the state. | Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But a presidential primary is not a congressional race, especially when your objective is to take out an incumbent. And there are other clear and serious hurdles ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Phillips has already failed to make the ballot in Nevada, the second presidential nominating state, and he\u2019s relying, in part, on a bombastic former Republican operative to lead it. In New Hampshire, where he plans to ground his bid, he\u2019s a total unknown, needing to introduce himself to the state party chair<\/a> just two weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    He\u2019s also squaring off against Biden, who\u2019s sitting on $91 million in campaign cash with the entire party machinery arrayed behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For its part, the Biden campaign is not expected to engage the Phillips campaign much, according to a source familiar with the campaign\u2019s thinking. To the extent they do, however, the source noted that they would cast him as wealthy and out-of-touch, while highlighting his 100 percent voting record with Biden.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cEveryone I know, to a person, is mystified, perplexed and frustrated by this move, and Dean has not really offered any public explanation,\u201d said Jeff Blodgett, a top Minnesota Democratic operative and donor adviser. \u201cPeople here are all in on Biden and focused on the work to get him reelected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Steve Schmidt, a top campaign strategist to Sen. John McCain\u2019s 2008 presidential campaign, is working with Phillips, which several Democrats called a \u201cred flag.\u201d In 2020, Schmidt also advised former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, another wealthy businessperson who considered an Independent presidential run. In addition, Phillips has brought on Ondine Fortune as a media buyer, while a firm led by Bill Fletcher, a Tennessee-based ad-maker, obtained permits for Phillips\u2019 Friday event. Several staffers from Phillips\u2019 congressional campaign are also filling out the early operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Phillips\u2019 New Hampshire-focused bid comes at a particularly fraught moment for Democrats in the state, who lost their first-in-the-nation primary status<\/a> for the 2024 presidential cycle earlier this month. The Democratic National Committee, with Biden\u2019s blessing, reordered the presidential nominating calendar last year, elevating South Carolina to the first-place slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But Phillips hasn\u2019t yet reached out to South Carolina Democrats, a sign \u201che\u2019s not serious,\u201d said South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Christale Spain, who called Phillips \u201ca distraction\u201d because \u201cany serious Democratic candidate, would understand that Black voters in South Carolina have been the backbone of the Democratic Party.\u201d The state\u2019s presidential filing deadline closes on Nov. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    New Hampshire, meanwhile, plans to run an unsanctioned contest, which is unlikely to yield any delegates for whomever wins the state in January. This week, the Biden campaign confirmed that the president\u2019s name will not appear<\/a> on the ballot, but top New Hampshire Democrats are expected to lead a write-in effort on his behalf. Marianne Williamson, who ran for president in 2020, will also appear on the New Hampshire ballot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Turmoil over the calendar is a factor for former New Hampshire House Speaker Steve Shurtleff, who said he \u201chopes\u201d Phillips runs \u201cbecause of the way things have been lined up by the DNC,\u201d who are \u201ctrying to take it out of the hands of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI\u2019ve got respect for Phillips that he may decide to get in the race, knowing what the price he might pay,\u201d Shurtleff continued. \u201cBy challenging the president, for someone like Dean, it could be the end of his political career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That question about Phillips\u2019 future is still baffling Minnesota Democrats, many of whom said they expected him to run for statewide office one day. Instead, Democrats are lining up to run for his House seat, where he\u2019s already drawn a primary challenger in Ron Harris, a DNC executive committee member.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cI believe every other Democratic member of Congress in Minnesota is supporting Biden, so it doesn\u2019t help when your home team is on board with the incumbent president, while you\u2019re trying to mount a challenge,\u201d said Mike Erlandson, a former chair of Minnesota\u2019s Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. \u201cI don\u2019t know that the congressman is particularly concerned one way or the other about what other people in political places of power think, though this probably doesn\u2019t help him with a statewide office run at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The Minnesota lawmaker is betting big on New Hampshire. Campaign ad: https:\/\/players.brightcove.net\/1155968404\/r1WF6V0Pl_default\/index.html?videoId=6339928476112 Dean Phillips is squaring off against Biden, who\u2019s sitting on $91 million in campaign cash with the entire party machinery arrayed behind him. By ELENA SCHNEIDER 10\/27\/2023 05:00 AM EDT (Politico.com) CONCORD, N.H. \u2014 The presidential campaign Dean Phillips… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1297],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29438"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29438"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29440,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29438\/revisions\/29440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}