Dana Perino on Joe Biden's decision to abandon New Hampshire, head to South Carolina
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's decision to fly to South Carolina as voters head to the polls in New Hampshire is a smart move from a communications standpoint, says Dana Perino, anchor of 'The Daily Briefing.'
I’m old enough to remember all the other times the pundits and chattering class wrote Joe Biden off. Amongst the causes of his political obituary were raising his hand to give healthcare to undocumented people, defending his record on busing, saying that poor kids are as bright as white kids and mixing up Iowa for Ohio.
How can he possibly go up against Donald Trump -- who allegedly didn't know that India and China share a border -- with that kind of record?
Well, I have no idea what happens in a general election. But I do know that writing political obituaries should be banned after 2016.
BIDEN DOWNPLAYS NEW HAMPSHIRE EXPECTATIONS AFTER REPEATEDLY VOWING TO WIN
Biden has had a terrible couple of weeks and anyone saying otherwise isn’t being an honest broker. He was polling in first or second place in Iowa and came in an unrespectable fourth. Word just got out that he left New Hampshire early to head to South Carolina, leaving his sister behind to manage expectations at his planned celebration party in Nashua, New Hampshire.
It’s expected that Biden could fall to fifth place in New Hampshire when all the votes are tallied Tuesday evening and he’s suffering from a real cash flow problem. In South Carolina, which is widely accepted as his firewall, Biden isn’t even on the air while the two Democratic billionaires Tom Steyer and Mike Bloomberg have unlimited advertising resources.
The newest Quinnipiac poll is rightfully sending shockwaves through Biden world. For the first time, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., comes out on top with 25 percent of the vote share and Biden slipping nine points from the last poll and coming in with 17 percent support. Who is in third? Former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who was the write-in winner of the Dixville Notch primary last night and is now ahead of Sanders when it comes to African American support.
Perhaps most critically, Biden’s support from black voters has slipped considerably and is the real cause for concern. In that same Quinnipiac poll, Biden has 27 percent black support down from 49 percent in the January 29 poll.
That kind of drop explains why he flew off from New Hampshire early to head to South Carolina and talk to his core voting bloc face to face. The newly unearthed video of Bloomberg talking about his controversial Stop and Frisk policy in very disturbing and racist terms, which he has apologized for, could help give Biden a bit of a boost back into a more commanding position.
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Time to panic for #TeamJoe? Sure, a little panic never hurt anyone. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that we haven’t seen how minority voters are going to vote. Nevada and South Carolina are both much more representative of the Democratic party and a real indicator of the longevity of a lot of these campaigns. Everyone is buzzing about former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg after Iowa but he still polls at four percent with black voters. As for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who is expected to have an impressive NH showing, she still polls at zero percent with black voters.
No Democratic nominee can have numbers like that with African Americans.
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So when you’re writing Joe Biden off, keep in mind that Sumter County, South Carolina has more African Americans than the entire state of New Hampshire. Sumter County: 51,019 New Hampshire: 23,115.
I’m not saying Joe’s going to be the nominee, but I’m sure as hell not ready to say that he isn’t.