The talk about whether President Biden will run again in 2024 has already begun. Biden has already said he will seek re-election, despite sinking poll numbers showing Americans are greatly dissatisfied with his performance. But the president’s fortunes may be turning thanks to recent legislative victories like the Inflation Reduction Act. Straight Arrow News contributor Newt Gingrich says all the “will he run?” talk is mostly the work of bored Beltway reporters. But he cautions that if Biden does run again in 2024, he will be tough to beat.
I believe if Biden does want to run again, that he’s very formidable for a simple reason. Look how many trillions of dollars they have given him to spend. His staff isn’t stupid. They would know how to call up various governors and senators and House members and say, “Hi, remember those five projects you want? Where are you on the Biden candidacy?” Jimmy Carter was faced with this, he was clearly going to be defeated. Teddy Kennedy was running. Teddy was the charming Crown Prince of the left and he got smashed by Carter because in the end, an incumbent president has an enormous amount of power, and a great deal of resources.
Even Gerry Ford, who had been picked to be vice president when Spiro Agnew had to resign for having broken the law, and then ended up replacing Nixon as president when Nixon had to resign…So Ford had no natural base in the whole country…He was a congressman from Michigan who had become the House Minority Leader. But faced with the most successful Republican politician of his generation, the most articulate, the most attractive, and the governor of the largest state in the country – Ronald Reagan – Ford in the end beat him. It was a close race, but Ford in the end, did win.
So I think underestimating the power of a president is always dangerous, particularly inside their own party. Ford went on to lose, just as Carter went on to lose, so the other lesson is if there is a serious primary opposition, it very often is a sign that that incumbent, even if they can keep the nomination, is not going to get through the general election. But remember, itt’s summer, the reporters are bored, and most of what they’re writing is nonsense.