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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Biden camp rolls out the red carpet for his millionaire donor club

In the early days of filling what will likely be a billion-dollar war chest for the election, the incumbent Democrats are touting a swanky dinner as a strategy meeting.

WASHINGTON (CN) — President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris will court about 150 top Democrat donors Friday evening to cap off the first week of his 2024 reelection campaign.

Though multiple surveys have indicated a lack of enthusiasm for the 80-year-old Biden seeking a second four-year term, his path to Election Day will be one generally free of obstacles with Democrats opting not to hold any primary debates.

One of Biden's two announced opponents for the Democratic ticket, author Marianne Williamson, said Biden's own base wants someone new in the White House.

“The Democratic Party establishment has indicated it is planning to subvert the primary process by shoe-horning Biden into the nomination, and Americans most concerned about our democracy must not let this happen,” Williamson said Tuesday after Biden announced the start of his campaign.

Calling for the chance to debate Biden, Williamson said “it is imperative that the voters hear from all candidates running in this primary — not just the President.”

Biden has been an elected member of the federal government for all but four years since 1973. He will be 86 at the start of second term but was already the oldest president in U.S. history when he was first inaugurated in 2021.

The president's other announced Democratic opponent, anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wants a debate as well. Kennedy tweeted that he’s “known and liked Joe Biden for many years,” but the two have differences on “fundamental issues.”

“The Biden administration is riddled with Neocons, war hawks, Wall Street people, and former corporate lobbyists,” he wrote. “That's what the party elite has become. But I know the rank-and-file — and the American people as a whole — don't share their priorities. It's time to return our party and our nation to the people.”

When the president meets with his top donors Friday night at the Salamander Hotel in Washington, they will be gathering for what his campaign is billing as a strategy session rather than an official fundraiser. Biden raised nearly $1.1 billion for his 2020 run, and the upcoming campaign is expected top that.

He began the month before even announcing with more than $1.3 million in funds available, according to his most recent Federal Election Commission filing covering activity from Jan. 1 to March 31. 

Williamson, who sought the nomination in 2020, was at the top of fundraising so far this year, with $666,072 in contributions reported in her most recent filing. She spent $740,393 and had $240,147 remaining. 

Kennedy did not file a report.

Several politicians have ruled out their own campaigns in the days since Biden announced, boosting the president's polling average to 66% compared to 20% for Kennedy and 8.5% for Williamson, according to RealClearPolitics.

While Biden is a clear frontrunner, Kennedy’s polling average is noteworthy. Only three challengers have received a double-digit percentage of the vote since widespread primary balloting started in the last 1960s.

Most recently, Republican President George H.W. Bush prevailed in his primary with 72.8% over Pat Buchanan’s 23% in 1992. In 1980, Democratic President Jimmy Carter received only 51% to Ted Kennedy’s 37%. Republican President Gerald Ford narrowly won in 1976 with 53% to future President Ronald Reagan’s 45%.

Bush, Carter and Ford went on to lose the general election in those years.

No sitting president has lost a primary contest, although Harry Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson dropped out of the race after facing a strong challenger early in voting.

Republicans are already bringing in campaign cash, with the three candidates who filed reports collecting more than $4.4 million so far in 2023.

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley raised the most so far this year with more than $3.28 million in the first quarter. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy was second with nearly $1.16 million.

Former President Donald Trump, considered the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, reported only $16,361 raised in the first quarter, though he also had the most campaign cash on hand with more than $13.9 million. Ramaswamy has about $9.4 million and Haley has about $4.07 million.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and radio host Larry Elder did not file reports.

Trump's polling average of 51.3% between April 11 and April 25 puts him at the head of the GOP pack, according to RealClearPolitics, although the polls consider more than 10 candidates, many of whom haven’t officially declared a campaign. Haley’s average is 3.9%, Ramaswamy’s is 2.3% and Hutchinson’s is 0.9%.

In the rear-view mirror, two of the four Libertarian candidates filed reports. Mike ter Maat, a Florida police officer, raised the most at $125,014. The party, which received ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in the past two presidential elections, received 3.28% of the national vote in 2016 and 1.18% in 2020. 

Follow @TheNolanStout
Categories / National, Politics

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