Biden yawns at primary challenge from Dean Phillips

• A sign of that confidence: Biden pushed for South Carolina to hold the first Democratic contest of the primary season with delegates at stake, but his campaign has no staff there and is relying on the state party in the Feb. 3 primary.
• Phillips — whose run for president will focus on the 80-year-old Biden's electability — tried to talk with Biden twice in recent weeks, but the White House told him the president was unavailable.

What they're saying: Biden won the state big in the 2020 primary, but some South Carolina Democrats worry that his team is too confident about his standing in the state for the 2024 primary.

• "The first rule of politics: Don't take anything for granted," Trav Robertson, chair of the state's Democratic Party from 2017 until earlier this year, told Axios.
• "We recognize that other states will be a priority in the general election, but the people in SC still need to see some semblance of a campaign staff, or the narrative that his campaign is taking South Carolina for granted will take root," Robertson added.
• Christale Spain, the new chair of the state's Democratic Party, said the state party is in "constant contact" with Biden's campaign: "I can't divulge their strategy but they are working, and not taking South Carolina for granted."

Phillips, 54, a businessman who represents Minnesota in Congress, pledged Friday to restore New Hampshire as the first Democratic contest of the primary season. That didn't sit well in South Carolina.

• "I feel Dean Phillips started off very disrespectful," Spain said. "This should have been his first stop."
• Noting Phillips' remark about restoring New Hampshire's place on the primary calendar because of "tradition," Spain added: "It has a lot of undertones that I won't get into."
• Biden's team said having South Carolina go first would allow a more diverse set of voters to have an early say in Democratic primaries. The traditional early voting states — New Hampshire and Iowa — are mostly white.
• Biden spokesperson Kevin Munoz told Axios that "President Biden is proud of the historic, unified support he has from across the Democratic Party for his re-election."

Driving the news: Phillips filed to enter the New Hampshire primary on Friday and began airing TV ads in the state.

• New Hampshire is set to hold the first Democratic primary — likely on Jan. 23 — but it won't count for the party's convention delegates because the state defied Biden's plan to have South Carolina go first.

• Biden's team announced this week that he will not appear on the New Hampshire ballot, though his allies are expected to organize a write-in campaign.
• Phillips missed the filing deadline for the Nevada primary, which will be on Feb. 6. The deadline for South Carolina is Nov. 10.

Between the lines: Phillips is an enormous underdog, entering the race in the final months before voting begins with little name I.D. or national profile.

• One of the wealthiest members of Congress, he can self-fund his campaign to try to make up ground.
• Some Democrats sympathetic to Phillips think he should have entered the race earlier this year, and say this last-second campaign won't help Phillips and could only hurt the president.
• Phillips' campaign message largely points to polls indicating that Biden is in danger of losing to Trump next year. Phillips largely has voted with Biden and has few clear issue differences with the president.
• "We appreciate the congressman's almost 100% support of this president," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday, as word that Phillips would run was spreading.

Phillips, who is Jewish, has criticized Biden's recent trip to Israel, telling The Atlantic that it was unnecessarily provocative to Arab nations.

• He also told the magazine that he found the behavior of Biden's son Hunter "appalling" and that it has allowed Republicans to create an equivalency between Biden's and Trump's conduct.