![CNN's Errol Louis and Kasie Hunt appeared disgruntled on Monday after they attacked Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips for not kissing the party's diversity leaders' rings. [Screenshot CNN]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screenshot-2023-11-13-at-4.03.11-PM-e1699909571641.png "CNN's Errol Louis and Kasie Hunt appeared disgruntled on Monday after they attacked Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips for not kissing the party's diversity leaders' rings. [Screenshot CNN]")
CNN’s Errol Louis and Kasie Hunt appeared disgruntled on Monday as they attacked Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips for not asking powerful black Democratic groups for permission to run for president and campaign in New Hampshire.
Phillips is challenging Biden for the Democratic nomination, arguing that “Bidenomics” is not working and has led to high inflation and a struggling economy. South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, however, has criticized Phillips for allegedly disrespecting black voters by focusing his campaign on majority-white New Hampshire rather than on the Biden stronghold of South Carolina.
“South Carolinians have demonstrated for decades that we are good predictors of great presidential candidates,” Clyburn posted to Twitter on Friday. “Apparently, Dean Phillips disagrees. He’s not respecting the wishes of the titular head of our party and the loyalties of some of our party’s most reliable constituents.”
In February, the Democratic National Committee voted to make South Carolina’s primary the first of the election cycle, displacing Iowa and New Hampshire from their historic positions at the start of the process. Biden lost Iowa and New Hampshire badly in 2020 — finishing fourth and fifth, respectively — but won South Carolina by almost 30 points. New Hampshire’s Republican secretary of state has refused to comply with the DNC policy, citing state law requiring New Hampshire to hold the nation’s first primary. Biden will not appear on the ballot, and the state’s convention delegation will be penalized for defying the national party.
“[Phillips] has obviously gone back and forth with Jim Clyburn, because Clyburn supported this move to have the first primary go to South Carolina. [Clyburn] said it was disrespectful of black voters the way Phillips is going about his campaign,” Hunt said Monday on CNN.
“I think we should just note that trying to win a Democratic nomination without the help of some of these critical groups is, I think, next to impossible. Although Errol I want to know what you think, let’s take a look at how Dean Phillips answered this question,” Hunt added, before rolling a clip of her interview with Phillips. (RELATED: Meet The Little-Known Democratic Congressman Running For Joe Biden’s Job)
“First of all, if he feels I have disrespected anybody, I apologize. But if it’s because I was in New Hampshire speaking with voters here that that was disrespectful to black voters, I take exception to that, because when had I’m in South Carolina shortly visiting with black voters, that is not disrespectful to Muslim voters in Michigan,” Phillips told Hunt during the interview. “I’m so sickened by what both parties are doing to this country only to win elections. And that breaks my heart. I’m disappointed.”
“So we didn’t actually include the part where I asked him specifically, ‘Did you reach out to the Congressional Black Caucus, to the NAACP, to the Urban League ahead of your bid or since you announced you’re running and the answer was no,” Hunt noted after the clip ended.
“Which raises the question of, ‘What is it that he is trying to do?'” Louis responded. “There are other parts of the Democratic base, which is ultimately a cluster of coalitions that could also say that they feel disrespected. Did he reach out to the environmentalists? Did he reach out to the women’s movement? Did he reach out to the labor movement? Is he connected to what makes up the base of the Democratic Party? And if he’s not, you have to ask what is he in this for and how is he supposed to turn around these numbers that are supposed to be so damning?”
“And then secondly, of course, if it’s about the polling numbers that look bad, depending on which poll you’re looking at for the president, what about him?” Louis continued. “He’s almost nonexistent in the national polls. Does that mean anything at all? I’m not sure what Dean Phillips is up to, but like many politicians, of course he has the right to run, to raise his profile to maybe end up with some kind of consulting gig or something like that when the smoke clears. But to say that it’s okay to just run and ignore all of the many groups and social movements and political movements that make up the base of the Democratic Party and have for over half a century, that doesn’t sound like somebody who is ready for the national stage.”