Joe Biden dismisses 'all the front-runner talk'
Joe Biden dismisses ‘all the front-runner talk’ as he returns to the campaign trail in New Hampshire after polls show him trailing Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg – and warns of a ‘party at risk’
- Joe Biden held his first campaign events in New Hampshire since Wednesday
- He took part in a Democratic debate where he lowered expectations about winning here
- Noted that Bernie Sanders is from nearby Vermont
- Sanders and Pete Buttigieg lead in the latest polls in the Granite State
- Candidates are sprinting across the state before the state’s primary Tuesday
- ‘I’ve never paid attention to all the front-runner talk from the time I entered the race’
Former Vice President Joe Biden continued to downplay expectations for how well he’ll do in New Hampshire, telling a crowd in Manchester he never bought that he was the race’s ‘frontrunner’ anyway.
‘I’ve never paid attention to all that frontrunner talk from the time I entered the race,’ Biden said at the Rex Theatre Saturday afternoon, arriving at the venue about an hour later.
Biden pointed to his childhood struggle with a stutter, and the tragedies that rocked his life. ‘Nothing’s been easy,’ he told the audience.
He talked about going door-to-door when running for the U.S. Senate in his late 20s. That win, ‘didn’t come easy,’ Biden said, ‘but I persevered and prevailed.’
‘I’ve never paid attention to all that frontrunner talk from the time I entered the race,’ former Vice President Joe Biden said at a campaign stop Saturday in New Hampshire
‘The same thing goes for both the primary and the general election,’ Biden continued. ‘Like so much else in my personal and professional life – I will, in fact, prevail.’
Biden appeared at the Rex Theatre after participating in a food assembly line early Saturday morning in Manchester, helping feed the city’s hungry.
Biden has a hill to climb in the next four days before New Hampshire votes, as the last five poll released in the Granite State have him in fourth place.
He also came in a disappointing fourth in Iowa after former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders, who essentially tied – though Buttigieg won by a hair using the traditional metric – as well as Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
The candidates are currently in the same order in New Hampshire, polls show.
Biden admitted that he didn’t perform well in Iowa, and also downplayed expectations in New Hampshire, thanks to Sanders’ and Warren’s status of next-door neighbors, and Buttigieg’s bounce out of the Hawkeye State.
Joe Biden seen in this screen grab from a video posted by Olympic Figure Skater and Campaign Surrogate Michelle Kwan speaks to a young unidentified boy at a campaign rally in Manchester New Hampshire on February 8, 2020
‘I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll probably take a hit here,’ Biden admitted Friday night during the Democratic debate at the nearby St. Anselm College.
Biden warned of being a ‘party at risk’ as he made the case against putting Pete Buttigieg or Bernie Sanders at the top of the ticket against President Trump in November – speaking with force into a microphone after commentators urged him to inject more energy into his campaign.
Once again, Biden stressed his electability message, and slapped both Buttigieg and Sanders.
‘It’s going to depend a lot on who’s at the top of the ticket,’ he told voters ‘Can the person you’re voting for beat Donald Trump, that’s the first question,’ he said. ‘Can they help us win back the Senate?’ is another.
‘So ask yourself, will it be easier or harder for a Democrat to win with a democratic socialist at the top of the ticket, self-stated. Or is it going to be harder?’ he said of sanders.
WARM RECEPTION: Democratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden chats with a local resident as he volunteers at a food distribution event while campaigning in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., February 8, 2020. He later said he never took stock in being a ‘frontrunner’
‘I do not believe we’re a party at risk if they nominated and I do believe were’e a party at risk if we nominate someone whose never held an office higher than mayor of South Bend, Indiana,’ he said in a dig at Buttigieg.
His prediction was backed up by the latest polls. The latest Boston Globe / Suffolk University poll had Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie at 25 and 24 per cent. They were followed by Elizabeth Warren at 14 and Biden at 11.
Another new poll, by WHDH / Emerson University, had Sanders at 31, Buttigieg at 24, and Warren and Biden tied at 11 per cent, just ahead of Amy Klobuchar at 9 per cent.
Former Vice President Joe Biden asked for some audience participation at Friday night’s Democratic debate in New Hampshire, telling the audience they should stand and applaud for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman who got removed from the White House earlier in the day
Saturday marked his first full day back on the campaign trail since Wednesday, when he seemed to be righting the ship.
At a campaign stop at a church-turned-VFW events hall in Somersworth, New Hampshire, Biden began attacking Sanders and Buttigieg by name.
He made similar arguments on the debate stage Friday night, standing alongside six Democratic rivals.
‘Bernie has labeled himself, not me, a democratic socialist,’ Biden pointed out Friday. ‘I think that’s the label that the president is going to lay on everyone running with Bernie is he is the nominee.’
Biden suggested that Democratic voters shouldn’t just pick a candidate who they think can beat President Trump – but also a nominee who can give Democratic senate hopefuls a bump, in order for the party to yank away control from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Sanders, with his democratic socialism, would poison that, Biden contended.
As for Buttigieg, Biden has been hammering his inexperience.
‘He’s a mayor of a small city who has done some good things but has not demonstrated his ability,’ Biden argued on the New Hampshire debate stage.
But Buttigieg also teed up one of Biden’s most memorable moments in that venue.
The ex-mayor was asked if the Democrats should be concerned about nominating a candidate who was still ‘under the threat of investigation.’
‘No. And we’re not going to let them change the subject. This is not about Hunter Biden or Vice President Biden or any Biden – this is about an abuse of power of the president,’ Buttigieg said.
‘The vice president and I and all of us are competing, but we’ve got to draw a line here,’ Buttigieg added.
The 38-year-old hopeful then went after Trump.
‘To be the kind of president – to be the kind of human being who would seek to turn someone against his own son, who would seek to weaponize a son against his own father, is an unbelievably dishonorable thing,’ Buttigieg said.
When it was Biden’s turn to speak Trump called the attacks on he and his son ‘a diversion.’
‘But here’s the deal, whomever the nominee is the president is going to make up lies about,’ Biden said.
He then pointed out what happened to Vindman, who had testified to the House Intelligence Committee as part of impeachment proceedings.
‘And, by the way, Colonel Vindman got thrown out of the White House today, walked out,’ Biden said. ‘He should be pinning a medal on Vindman, not Rush Limbaugh,’ the former vice president added.
He then asked audience members to get up on the feet.
‘I think we should all stand and give Colonel Vindman a show of how much we support him,’ Biden urged. ‘Stand up and clap for Vindman. Get up there!’
‘That’s who we are, we are not what Trump is,’ Biden said.
At the top of the event, former New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said he liked the ring of ‘President Joe Biden,’ before taking a swipe at President Trump.
‘You wake up, you don’t even know who’s going to be on his team, who’s going to be off his team,’ he said, hours after Lt. Col Alexander Vindman, who testified against Trump in the House impeachment inquiry, was escorted out of the White House.
But the line also followed a New York Times report that Biden was carrying out his own internal staff shakeup, with longtime political consultant Anita Dunn taking over the principal role in his organization following a fourth-place showing in Iowa.
Democratic presidential candidate former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks at ‘Our Rights, Our Courts’ forum New Hampshire Technical Institute’s Concord Community College, Saturday, Feb. 8, 2020, in Concord, N.H. He and Bernie Sanders are leading in the polls in New Hampshire
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) participates in a Presidential forum event held at the New Hampshire Technical Institute on February 08, 2020 in Concord, New Hampshire. Mr. Sanders is campaigning before the primary on February 11
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman was fired by President Trump Friday as part of a post-impeachment purge of officials who testified against him. Vindman testified about Trump’s Ukraine plot in November before the House Intelligence Committee
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