Democrats Will at Least Have a Choice

 

by Pa Rock

Voter

The Republican field of presidential wannabes is shrinking.    It took former Vice President Mike Pence less than six months to figure out that God already had a horse in the GOP race, and it wasn't Pence.  God's favorite, of course, is Donald Trump, a painfully contrite and devout follower of Jesus who, when he isn't washing the feet of the poor or cleansing people of leprosy with his touch, can often be found autographing Bibles.   Pence may have thought he was the main Christian in the race, but he misunderestimated the Lord's love of Trump!

And while the GOP's field of candidates shrank by one, the Democrats added a candidate to their short list of presidential aspirants.  Dean Phillips, a Democratic member of Congress from Minnesota, became the first current Democratic office holder to formally announce that he is running against incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden.    Biden has said (correctly, I believe) that any Democrat who wants to be President should feel free to join the race.  So Congressman Phillips did - last Friday in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire is important in the race for the nomination in a symbolic sense.  For many years it has held the first presidential primary and received lots of candidate and press attention as well as a nice mid-winter boost to the state's economy.  Last year the Biden campaign got the Democratic National Committee to move New Hampshire out of that first spot and replace it with South Carolina, the state that turned the political tide for Biden in 2020.  Then, knowing that New Hampshire was almost guaranteed to be defiant, they enacted a measure to strip New Hampshire of its delegates to the national convention if they jockeyed their primary back ahead of South Carolina - which New Hampshire promptly did.

Now Biden is keeping his name off of the New Hampshire ballot because of "party rules," rules which he and his team essentially wrote, and the new candidate, Dean Phillips, will have his name on the ballot.  Biden's people have started a write-in campaign which an incumbent should easily win, but, it's a fluid situation and people in New England are known for their independent natures - so who knows what that primary will bring?  One thing it won't bring will be any actual convention delegates for the winner, - whoever he is.

Dean Phillips is a multi-millionaire businessman who made his fortune running the family's distillery business and creating his own company that makes gelato.  (Biden is also a multi-millionaire, though less rich than Phillips.)   Phillips' father was killed while piloting a helicopter in the Vietnam War.  He died when Dean was only six-months-old, and the two never met.  His mother then married Mr. Phillips, the head of a distillery, and he adopted her little boy.  Dean's new grandmother at the time of the adoption was Pauline Phillips, a.k.a. "Dear Abby."

Dean Phillips, who is politically in line with most Biden policies, seems to be focused on the President's age.  Biden is eighty and will be eighty-one in three weeks.  Phillips is fifty-four.  He and others in the party are concerned by polls which show a very tight race between Biden and the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald Trump (current age seventy-seven), with some polls actually showing Trump in the lead.  If  either of the elderly presidential candidates were to suffer a health crisis between now and the general election next November, it could throw the entire race into a cocked hat.

(Eleanor Clift, a national journalist, penned an editorial in yesterday's on-line publication, "The Daily Beast," in which Ms. Clift - who is eighty-three - seemed to be supporting Biden by stating that Phillips has an "ego" issue.  Others could counter that there is a whole lot of ego floating around in the political toilet bowl - and certainly anyone - ANYONE - who is running for President would have more than his or her share.  Thanks anyway, Eleanor.  Your opinion has been duly noted and ignored.)

Phillips announced his candidacy on Friday, and I think it is noteworthy that I have yet to receive an email from his campaign begging for money.   Also, there doesn't seem to be a webpage up for his national campaign.  Often a web presence and a campaign video precede the actual announcement.  The Biden team has $91 million in the bank which is well above Phillips' total net worth.  (So Dean, if you are serious, you are going to have to get "on the beg.")

The Missouri Republican State Legislature, a group that is decidedly anti-democracy, killed the state's presidential primaries this year, but the state's Democratic Party is sponsoring its own on March 23rd.  Pa Rock will be voting, as he always does, and whoever wants my vote is going to have to  1.) ask for it;   2.) show up in the show-me state and campaign;  and,  3.) have a damned compelling platform that puts the needs of people first.

And I, for one, am extremely pleased that there will be an actual choice on that primary ballot.  Democracy is about choices!