Democrats are very worried about a third-party presidential candidate thanks to their commitment to an unpopular 81-year-old man.
The Democratic National Committee is dedicating staff to taking down third-party candidates, with both the DNC and left-wing think tanks filing complaints against the super PAC backing Robert Kennedy Jr. In fact, Biden allies have started a super PAC called Clear Choice dedicated to stopping Kennedy or other third-party candidates, while Democratic opposition research group American Bridge is monitoring third-party candidates closely.
The desperation in these concerns is most on display among Democratic allies in the media. CNN ran a hit piece on Aaron Rodgers (yes, the New York Jets quarterback) because Rodgers is reportedly on the short list of people Kennedy is interested in joining his ticket as a running mate. The substance of the piece is that one anonymous source claimed that Rodgers said the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012 was fake 11 years ago. Again, this is a hit piece centered on an anonymous source’s recollection of an alleged conversation 11 years ago, targeting a football player who is maybe being considered by a third-party candidate as a running mate.
The concern that a third-party ticket poses a threat to Biden’s chances is obvious to see. Kennedy, despite being unorthodox and enjoying a weird admiration from some right-wing pundits over some of his unorthodox positions, is still a Democrat. He is a Democratic member of a famous Democratic political dynasty who holds wildly left-wing positions on things such as climate change.
That fact is showing itself in polls early in this cycle. A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll in January found former President Donald Trump beating Biden 41%-33% in a three-way race, with Kennedy pulling 18%. That same poll measured a five-way race including left-wing independent Cornel West and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and found Trump’s lead over Biden would widen. That’s what happens when the most right-wing third-party candidate is a Kennedy.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Democrats hamstrung themselves with an old, unpopular candidate and are now being flooded with third-party candidates that are to his left (West and Stein) or an unorthodox mix of left-wing and more centrist positions (Kennedy). This is while talk of a center-left centrist such as Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) has been floated by the group No Labels. Manchin has since said he won’t run, but No Labels is still pushing forward with a candidate search, and that candidate will appeal more to Democrats than Republicans.
Biden and Democrats should be worried about these third-party candidacies, but only because Biden’s own incompetence and unpopularity is what is fueling those candidates in the first place. Snuffing out one or more of those campaigns won’t save Biden because he is the problem, not Kennedy or anyone else.