Dean Phillips isn’t Eugene McCarthy, and Joe Biden isn’t LBJ, but there are echoes of 1968 in his challenge
Rep. Dean Phillips, a moderate Democrat who represents the western suburbs of Minneapolis (Bloomington, Edina and Brooklyn Park) in Congress, announced the other day that he will challenge President Biden for the Democratic presidential nomination next year.
So who the hell is Dean Phillips, and why should we care about what initially appears to be a quixotic challenge to the president? He won a traditionally Republican House seat in 2018, in his first bid for public office, and is now serving his third term. He won last year with about 59% of the vote, but Biden won the district in 2020 by 19 percentage points.
Phillips (seen above in his official portrait posted on phillips.house.gov/press) is 54 years old, a graduate of Brown University, and comes from a very wealthy family. The Phillips Distilling Company is a major producer of vodka, and the family is also America's largest producer of gelato. If Dean Phillips beats the odds next year and accomplishes the impossible, he will be America's first Jewish president.
He has clashed with the Democratic representative from neighboring Minneapolis, Rep. Ilhan Omar, over her anti-semitic comments. On the other hand, Phillips co-authored a column published in the Argus Leader with Rep. Dusty Johnson back in October 2020, promoting a bipartisan Covid relief proposal. Both men consider themselves bipartisan “problem solvers” in a bitterly partisan Congress.
If you’re over a certain age and have never heard of Dean Phillips, you’re probably familiar with his grandmother, advice columnist Abigail Van Buren, commonly known as “Dear Abby.”
You also might remember her twin sister (and arch-rival) Ann Landers. Most newspapers featured one or the other.
Phillips expressed the hope some months ago that a moderate Democrat might step forward and challenge Biden for the 2024 presidential nomination. When more prominent Midwestern leaders like Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan didn’t heed his call, he decided to make the race himself. While he has criticized Biden’s handling of the surge of immigrants on the Mexican border, Phillips still calls Biden a “terrific president.”
His big complaint with the incumbent seems to be his advanced age (soon to be 81) and his standing in the polls. When he announced for president, Phillips told CNN that “my inability to attract other candidates, to inspire the president to recognize that it is time, compels me to serve my country because it appears that President Joe Biden is going to lose the next election.”
Indeed, most Americans don’t seem to be celebrating the success of Bidenomics in pulling the country out of the Covid recession. Biden does have something to brag about; unemployment is down to 3.8% and real wages during the Biden presidency are up 3.5%, with low-wage workers showing the largest gains. The starting wages that you see advertised by fast food eateries do represent economic progress, even if they’re also inflationary.
Despite all that, only 20% of Americans currently rate the economy as “excellent” or “good,” while 49% rate the economy as “poor.” The perception is more important than the reality, as we head into campaign season, and millions of Americans are justifiably terrified by the prospect of another Trump presidency.
If Dean Phillips racks up a surprising number of votes in early primary contests, he could further weaken an endangered incumbent. Back in 1968, a fairly obscure Minnesota Democratic senator, Eugene McCarthy, had the temerity to challenge his party’s incumbent president, Lyndon Johnson.
McCarthy campaigned vigorously and drew strong support from young people who were strongly opposed to Johnson’s conduct of the Vietnam War. Most states chose their delegates in conventions, not primaries, but McCarthy scored a shocking success in the New Hampshire primary, where he nearly defeated Johnson. The incumbent withdrew from the race a few weeks later.
After that, the Democratic nomination was primarily a battle between Vice President Hubert Humphrey, a South Dakota native who moved to Minnesota as a young man and rose to political prominence, and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY). Humphrey won the nomination after RFK’s assassination, and narrowly lost the general election to Richard Nixon.
Today’s circumstances are quite different. Dean Phillips is challenging Joe Biden based on the latter’s age and electability, not a crusade against an unpopular war. The presidential nominating process is far more open today, with every state’s delegates chosen in either primaries or caucuses that are open to the general public.
Nonetheless, this long shot challenge to President Biden from within his own party certainly bears watching.
Jay Davis of Rapid City is a retired attorney.
