What’s Next
Hello, I hope that your weekend was great.
South Carolina voted on Saturday and the results were what you’d expect: Joe Biden romping with 96% of the vote in a VERY low turnout race – 132,000 votes cast in a state of 5.1 million, or only 2.5% of the population.
A lot of South Carolinians were probably saving their vote for the South Carolina Republican primary on February 24th, when the Trump vs. Haley battle will essentially be over in all likelihood.
What’s next? After SC, the next big contested primary is Michigan on February 27th. This week on the podcast I interview Jeff Weaver, who ran Bernie Sanders’ successful Michigan primary campaign in 2016. “We went up to the peninsula and traveled to the more rural areas. Local press covered our events. Dean has a big opportunity in Michigan as he’s a good fit for primary voters there.”
Jeff has a fascinating story and background. “I started out as Bernie’s staffer and campaign manager in Vermont. I was his chief of staff after he went to D.C. I actually left politics for a while after burning out on it. But then Bernie called me in 2015 about his presidential run. He’s not someone who just calls you a lot, so I knew it was going to be important. He said, ‘Everything the consultants are quoting me costs $300,000. Can you come and make sure they’re not gouging me and run things?’”
Jeff remembers the 2016 run well. “Oh yeah, we had the energy. We were running against the establishment who were trying to kneecap us at every turn.” He recalls the media treatment. “MSNBC has become pretty much become the communications arm of the DNC, so they were generally not very good to us.”
Jeff knows Michigan well and thinks it’s a great environment for Dean. “Michigan is a microcosm of America. Everyone just thinks of it as blue-collar auto industry and Detroit. But there are small cities, there are rural areas. Bernie traveled to all of them. Dean will do the same thing. If you’re someone who can practice retail politics well, as Dean can, he’s going to spark a lot of interest in folks. Anyone who’s registered to vote can vote for Dean including independents, so there are a lot of voters. If Nikki Haley is out, a lot of independents will come over and vote for Dean.”
Jeff also believes that Dean doesn’t need to win Michigan, just show that Biden is vulnerable there. “Joe Biden’s entire rationale is that he could put the Blue Wall back together to defeat Trump.” Biden won Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in 2020, states that Trump won in 2016 and is currently leading in in most polls. Biden is currently down 8 points in Michigan and has persistent problems there. “If we can demonstrate how weak Joe Biden is in Michigan in the Blue Wall, the entire rationale for Joe’s candidacy evaporates.”
A lot has to go right very quickly, but the opportunity to upgrade from a Trump vs. Biden rematch – one that I believe Trump would win - lies right in front of us.
For my interview of Jeff, click here. To check out the Dean Phillips campaign, go to dean24.com. And tell your friends in Michigan that democracy is coming their way February 27th.
