The Very Weird, Very Important Test Facing Biden In New Hampshire

Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary does not seem like a great way to judge the strength of President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign. They have not spent a single dime on the contest. The primary will, as of right now, not award a single delegate to the Democratic National Convention in July. Many of the state’s independent voters are expected to vote in the contested GOP primary instead. Biden is not even on the ballot.

New Hampshire, however, has a way of shaping narratives even if it doesn’t award many — or any, in this case — delegates. And as the 81-year-old Biden continues to seek to calm Democratic worries about his ability to defeat former President Donald Trump a second time, the fate of a write-in effort in the state could take on meaning far greater than the vote’s actual impact.

Standing in the way of Biden, who remains the overwhelming favorite for nomination, is moderate Rep. Dean Phillips, the heir to a distillery fortune who compounded his wealth with a stint as chairman of Talenti, the popular gelato brand. Phillips has invested millions of dollars of his own money disseminating his message that Biden’s poor poll numbers disqualify him from a Trump rematch.

The root of this admittedly confusing situation — a president’s allies mounting a write-in effort in a state where the votes won’t count — is the Biden-controlled Democratic National Committee’s decision to strip New Hampshire of its first-in-the-nation primary status. When New Hampshire’s state government predictably refused to switch the date, the central party body invalidated its convention delegates and vowed to punish any candidate who campaigned there.

Even before Phillips announced his bid, the prospect of an embarrassing blowout in New