A lot of presidential candidates have rough days, but wow, did Dean Phillips, the Minnesota congressman running the longest of longshot bids against President Biden in the Democratic primary, have a rough start to his day.
“Sometimes if you build it, they don’t come,” Dean Phillips told reporters outside of the Manchester DoubleTree hotel this morning, after no voters showed up to his “Government Repair Truck Coffee Conversations” event in 22 degree weather. pic.twitter.com/x0lpVcRSnb
— jake rosen (@JakeMRosen) January 9, 2024
So far this cycle, we’ve seen Asa Hutchinson addressing just a handful of people and Mike Pence speaking to a bored dozen or so in a store. But to hold an event in the downtown of the most populous city in New Hampshire, about two weeks before the primary and no one shows up? At all? Not even a curious person walking by? Brutal. Just brutal.
When Phillips announced his late entry bid in the Democratic primary, I wondered if some Democrats would cast a ballot for him, as something of a protest vote, simply because they wanted a younger option than Biden. For what it’s worth, the CNN poll puts Phillips at 7 percent in New Hampshire, but… apparently everyone in that 7 percent was busy this morning.