Nobody needs additional proof that Joe Biden’s re-election campaign is in trouble, but… here’s additional proof.
Over the weekend we learned that Biden is down by two points in reliably Democrat New Hampshire, which has a whopping four electoral votes, and the campaign is worried enough that they’re sending a surrogate to the state to campaign for Biden right after the 4th of July holiday.
That surrogate? The man many Democrats swoon over and see as either a potential replacement for Biden or their 2028 contender, California’s Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom attended last week’s debate as an official campaign surrogate and vehemently denies that he has an ulterior motive in his defense of Joe Biden and calls to keep him on the ballot. That strategy has kept him in the Biden family’s good graces as they circle the wagons. And now, after that poll revealed an unanticipated weak spot, he’s the one they’re sending to New Hampshire on Monday to stump for Biden and state and local Democrats:
“We look forward to welcoming Governor Newsom to New Hampshire to campaign on behalf of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris and once again defeat Donald Trump,” said New Hampshire Democratic Chairman Ray Buckley.
More than 200 people have RSVP’d for the event.
There’s obviously no down-side for Newsom and his famously large ambition in that equation.
He was not on a Monday afternoon conference call of Democrat governors that, depending on whose account you believe, did not go well. Jake Tapper reported Tuesday afternoon:
Some Democratic governors are seeking a meeting with the White House to discuss their concerns about President Joe Biden in the aftermath of his poor debate performance, multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions told CNN.
The concern from some of the nation’s Democratic governors were aired on a call Monday organized by Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, one of the sources said. The call was attended by governors only.
On the call, some of the governors expressed surprise that they had not heard from Biden himself about his debate performance. There was a strong sentiment on the call that they needed to hear from Biden directly on the matter.
There was also some discussion of having Vice President Kamala Harris address them.
The governors, one of the sources said, were worried about going public with their concerns out of fear that it would lead to Biden digging in further. Plans for the meeting at the White House are underway but it has not been scheduled.
According to the Sacramento Bee, there is now a meeting scheduled Wednesday but Newsom is not scheduled to attend that either; he has to be in Sacramento to try to push a deceptive, Trojan horse-style “public safety” bill through the legislature as part of his fight against reforming Prop. 47, the bill that’s led to out-of-control crime in the Golden State.
READ MORE: Newsom’s ‘Hail Mary’ Proposition to Neuter the Reform Prop 47 Ballot Initiative Goes to the Legislature
The last time Newsom tried his song-and-dance routine outside California, it didn’t go so well. As our Jennifer Oliver O’Connell wrote, he and his failed-crisis-manager wife “face-planted” in Alabama. May he have the same luck on this tour.
UPDATED 10:30PM EDT, July 2, 2024:
Gavin Newsom will be attending that Wednesday meeting of Democrat governors at the White House to “stand with the President,” reports California Capitol correspondent Ashley Zavala.
BREAKING: Gov. Gavin Newsom is leaving California to head to the White House tomorrow to attend the governors meeting with President Biden, and “to stand with the President,” per his campaign spokesman.
— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) July 3, 2024
