Dean Philips close to running?

[ProgressiveModerate]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jXqwFRX75M

In this interview on Face the Nation, he doesn't confirm nor rule out primarying Joe Biden.

It seems like he essentially has several main points:

-Joe Biden is still a good President and good person
-A lot of people in the D primary want a reasonable alternative to Biden; lot of people don't want rematch. Washington politicians are tone death or even scared to challenge.
-He's probably not the best person, but hopes those who are "well positioned and of good character and competency" jump into the race to offer an alternative - if they don't he might
-Competition is a good thing but 3rd party runs are not good

I agree with his general point that I think it is unfortunate there is no serious alternative to Biden in the D primary. I think too many people have this fear a competitive primary between someone like Biden and Whitmer would fracture the Dem base and cost them 2024, but there's no reason to believe that would be the case unless you have a Bernie 2016 situation where a ton of tension/anger builds up, the the losing person refuses to endorse/campaign with the other for the GE. I don't even think a primary challenge to Biden has to be that ideological, moreso just putting out someone who may be a younger and new blood.

I also agree Dean Philips likely wouldn't be the best competitor to Biden. He's a fairly low profile and relatively new Congressman. He doesn't have much of a clear political identity or brand (though he could definitely create that if he ran).

While I don't think it's as bad as some on the right make it out to be, Joe Biden is definitely getting older, getting slower, and there would be a very good chance his health takes a sharp decline during his second term to the point he's not able to effectively give speeches, campaign, or travel. Like imagine if Dianne Feinstein were President right now.

[The Mikado]

Imagine giving up a safe House seat for this.

[7,052,770]

Who?

[The Mikado]

Who?

A 3-term Congressman with a 100% votes with Biden voting record who somehow thinks he can provide an effective contrast to Biden.

[Consuming is good, it's what we're made for]

How to destroy your political career 101

[Senator Incitatus]

How to destroy your political career 101

He’s a multimillionaire many times over who doesn’t want to be a backbencher and might take a flyer on being President. What a crazy idea.

Who?

A 3-term Congressman with a 100% votes with Biden voting record who somehow thinks he can provide an effective contrast to Biden.

Being under 80 is pretty much the only contrast he needs.

[Atlas Force]

He’ll have been serving for five years in 2024, so he can go for it without risking his congressional pension.

[wbrocks67]

How to destroy your political career 101

This. Primary him now.

[Dave Hedgehog]

Who?

This is exactly what I thought. Never heard of the guy until I read about this this morning. He has about as much chance of winning the primary as I do.

[Stranger in a strange land]

Who?

A 3-term Congressman with a 100% votes with Biden voting record who somehow thinks he can provide an effective contrast to Biden.

How to destroy your political career 101

As a congressperson, especially a random backbencher, it's pretty difficult to to distinguish yourself by actually doing your job, and most prominent congresspeople become so by being controversial lighting rods or by being the first X to do Y. It's pretty much impossible to jump straight from the House to the Presidency in the Modern Era. In fact, the last president to have even served in the House at any point was George HW Bush (though Obama, W, and Clinton all had unsuccessful house runs at one time or another), and that was a short stint almost 2 decades before his presidency.

[Zedonathin2020]

How to destroy your political career 101

This. Primary him now.

Given that he’ll have to give up running for re-election to the house to run for POTUS anyways this seems kind of redundant

[CadetCashBoi]

lol

[Minnesota Mike]

https://www.startribune.com/perhaps-in-the-future-rep-dean-phillips-signals-hes-unlikely-to-run-for-president-in-2024/600298650/

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips does not sound like a man who expects to run for president in 2024.

In an interview with The Star Tribune over the weekend, Phillips said that running for president this cycle "is not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons." He said his mission is to encourage others to enter the primary fray even while confirming that he is still eying a September timeline for making a firm decision on what he'll do.

As expected.

[Minnesota Mike]

He’ll have been serving for five years in 2024, so he can go for it without risking his congressional pension.

Phillips is one of the richest members of congress (Phillips Distilling) at an estimated $100 mill plus. I doubt his congressional pension is playing into this.

How to destroy your political career 101

This. Primary him now.

Given that he’ll have to give up running for re-election to the house to run for POTUS anyways this seems kind of redundant

Minnesota has a late primary, filing deadline is in I believe June. In theory Phillips could make a presidential run and then fall back to his congressional race. That having been said it's extremely unlikely he runs for president.

[Consuming is good, it's what we're made for]

https://www.startribune.com/perhaps-in-the-future-rep-dean-phillips-signals-hes-unlikely-to-run-for-president-in-2024/600298650/

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips does not sound like a man who expects to run for president in 2024.

In an interview with The Star Tribune over the weekend, Phillips said that running for president this cycle "is not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons." He said his mission is to encourage others to enter the primary fray even while confirming that he is still eying a September timeline for making a firm decision on what he'll do.

As expected.

Translation: "I just needed some attention"

[AltWorlder]

https://www.startribune.com/perhaps-in-the-future-rep-dean-phillips-signals-hes-unlikely-to-run-for-president-in-2024/600298650/

U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips does not sound like a man who expects to run for president in 2024.

In an interview with The Star Tribune over the weekend, Phillips said that running for president this cycle "is not something as of today that I see happening for a number of reasons." He said his mission is to encourage others to enter the primary fray even while confirming that he is still eying a September timeline for making a firm decision on what he'll do.

As expected.

Let's just say Dean Philips is pulling a Unity08 or Americans Elect instead of a No Labels (though there's a strong chance No Labels will be a Unity08 or Americans Elect anyway).

[President Johnson]

Everyone is entitled to run and/or throw their career away for nothing, but anybody should consider whether this is the time to fool around or stand united to back Agent Orange's challenge to democracy and the rule of law.

[wbrocks67]

There is quite literally no reason to primary Biden. Yes, he's old, but he's not Feinstein old. He's literally still biking all over the place and in fine health. This is also such disrespect to Kamala Harris, who is the sitting VP and #2, and she should just move over as well for... Dean Phillips?

Sorry, I frankly don't see any of the points in the first post as valid. Biden has gotten a ton of stuff done, arguably more than Obama did, so why should we just throw away incumbency and not just that - Biden has earned a chance to bid for a second term. In an objective human sense, it would be downright sh*tty to say, hey, every other president in history has gotten the right to go for a 2nd round, but sorry, not you! It's just preposterous and a lot of this is just serious pundit DC brain imo.

Not only that, but to have a primary *now*? That would be a complete mess.

[Mr.Bakari-Sellers]

He won't win

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

There is quite literally no reason to primary Biden. Yes, he's old, but he's not Feinstein old. He's literally still biking all over the place and in fine health. This is also such disrespect to Kamala Harris, who is the sitting VP and #2, and she should just move over as well for... Dean Phillips?

Sorry, I frankly don't see any of the points in the first post as valid. Biden has gotten a ton of stuff done, arguably more than Obama did, so why should we just throw away incumbency and not just that - Biden has earned a chance to bid for a second term. In an objective human sense, it would be downright sh*tty to say, hey, every other president in history has gotten the right to go for a 2nd round, but sorry, not you! It's just preposterous and a lot of this is just serious pundit DC brain imo.

Not only that, but to have a primary *now*? That would be a complete mess.

I disagree. Biden is one of the most unpopular democrats in the nation, and almost any democrst would outrun him. Incumbency means nothing nowadays in presidential elections, and even the most boring generic neolib would outrun Biden because Biden is very unpopular.

[wbrocks67]

There is quite literally no reason to primary Biden. Yes, he's old, but he's not Feinstein old. He's literally still biking all over the place and in fine health. This is also such disrespect to Kamala Harris, who is the sitting VP and #2, and she should just move over as well for... Dean Phillips?

Sorry, I frankly don't see any of the points in the first post as valid. Biden has gotten a ton of stuff done, arguably more than Obama did, so why should we just throw away incumbency and not just that - Biden has earned a chance to bid for a second term. In an objective human sense, it would be downright sh*tty to say, hey, every other president in history has gotten the right to go for a 2nd round, but sorry, not you! It's just preposterous and a lot of this is just serious pundit DC brain imo.

Not only that, but to have a primary *now*? That would be a complete mess.

I disagree. Biden is one of the most unpopular democrats in the nation, and almost any democrst would outrun him. Incumbency means nothing nowadays in presidential elections, and even the most boring generic neolib would outrun Biden because Biden is very unpopular.

This is quite literally not true; Trump probably did as well as he did in 2020 because of incumbency advantage, especially with groups like Hispanics who have tended to historically have a pro-incumbency factor in presidential elections.

[Shaula🏳️‍⚧️]

There is quite literally no reason to primary Biden. Yes, he's old, but he's not Feinstein old. He's literally still biking all over the place and in fine health. This is also such disrespect to Kamala Harris, who is the sitting VP and #2, and she should just move over as well for... Dean Phillips?

Sorry, I frankly don't see any of the points in the first post as valid. Biden has gotten a ton of stuff done, arguably more than Obama did, so why should we just throw away incumbency and not just that - Biden has earned a chance to bid for a second term. In an objective human sense, it would be downright sh*tty to say, hey, every other president in history has gotten the right to go for a 2nd round, but sorry, not you! It's just preposterous and a lot of this is just serious pundit DC brain imo.

Not only that, but to have a primary *now*? That would be a complete mess.

I disagree. Biden is one of the most unpopular democrats in the nation, and almost any democrst would outrun him. Incumbency means nothing nowadays in presidential elections, and even the most boring generic neolib would outrun Biden because Biden is very unpopular.

This is quite literally not true; Trump probably did as well as he did in 2020 because of incumbency advantage, especially with groups like Hispanics who have tended to historically have a pro-incumbency factor in presidential elections.

I think what you said is quite literally not true. I don't think Trump had any incumbent bias, Hispanics going right was simply racial depolarization, as many are conservative already.

[wbrocks67]

There is quite literally no reason to primary Biden. Yes, he's old, but he's not Feinstein old. He's literally still biking all over the place and in fine health. This is also such disrespect to Kamala Harris, who is the sitting VP and #2, and she should just move over as well for... Dean Phillips?

Sorry, I frankly don't see any of the points in the first post as valid. Biden has gotten a ton of stuff done, arguably more than Obama did, so why should we just throw away incumbency and not just that - Biden has earned a chance to bid for a second term. In an objective human sense, it would be downright sh*tty to say, hey, every other president in history has gotten the right to go for a 2nd round, but sorry, not you! It's just preposterous and a lot of this is just serious pundit DC brain imo.

Not only that, but to have a primary *now*? That would be a complete mess.

I disagree. Biden is one of the most unpopular democrats in the nation, and almost any democrst would outrun him. Incumbency means nothing nowadays in presidential elections, and even the most boring generic neolib would outrun Biden because Biden is very unpopular.

This is quite literally not true; Trump probably did as well as he did in 2020 because of incumbency advantage, especially with groups like Hispanics who have tended to historically have a pro-incumbency factor in presidential elections.

I think what you said is quite literally not true. I don't think Trump had any incumbent bias, Hispanics going right was simply racial depolarization, as many are conservative already.

GWB, Obama, and Trump all did better in round 2 with Hispanics than round 1. I'd call that a pattern.