Dana Perino: Biden was front runner in name only
'The Daily Briefing' host Dana Perino weighs in on 2020 candidates and the New Hampshire primary.
"The Daily Briefing" host Dana Perino reacted to former Vice President Joe Biden's hasty departure from New Hampshire as Democratic voters cast their ballots in the Granite State's primary by relating a story from the 2000 New Hampshire GOP primary, in which then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush was soundly beaten by then- Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
"He [Bush] won in Iowa and lost in New Hampshire," Perino recalled on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "The story that I've been told, [is that] he gathered everybody that night and he said, 'This is on me and nobody will blame each other, don't point fingers at each other."
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"The Biden campaign," Perino continued, "people who work on the campaign [are] talking to the media on background saying, 'Well, if they had only done it the way I suggested ...' The finger-pointing is really bad. But the race is narrowing."
With more than half the precincts reporting, Biden was in fifth place with just 8.5 percent of the vote.
“I took a hit in Iowa and I’m probably going to take a hit here,” Biden said in a striking moment at the top of Friday night’s Democratic presidential nomination debate.
Asked later by Fox News if he was writing off the Granite State, the former vice president fired back, saying “I’m not writing off New Hampshire. I’m going to campaign like hell here in New Hampshire, as I’m going to do in Nevada, in South Carolina and beyond. Look, this is just getting going here. This is a marathon.”
"You feel like there is a feeling that people are sad, like, sorry that this is happening," Perino said of Biden's unexpectedly low polling.
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Perino called Biden "a really, really nice guy" but predicted that he will "run out of money quickly" as he moves on to the next state.
"The fact that they left early today from New Hampshire gave the media six hours to run with the story that he was skipping town... even though it made sense for him to go on to South Carolina," she said. "He will not quit tonight and I think he will try to make it to South Carolina but you will run out of money quickly."
Perino said that while Biden was the "front runner in name only," Mayor Pete Buttigieg seemed to be gaining momentum.
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"Now you have Buttigieg at least be able to get within a close range to Bernie Sanders and I think he will feel some momentum," she said.
" I don't know if that carries into South Carolina though. That is two weeks from now and ... they have to show they can win in a diverse state if they really want to be the nominee."
Fox News' Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
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