乔·拜登总统的竞选团队驳斥了第三方候选人的威胁，比如一张潜在的无标签“统一”票在11月的一场势均力敌的选举中，他可能会从他那里抢走关键选票，称选民不会被这些选项“愚弄”。
“最终，只有两个政党有能力获得270张选举人票，那就是乔·拜登(Joe Biden)成为民主党提名人，无论谁从目前正在进行的极端共和党初选中脱颖而出，”拜登竞选团队首席副经理昆廷·富尔克斯(Quentin Fulks)周日对美国广播公司(ABC News)“本周”(This Week)联合主播玛莎·拉达茨(Martha Raddatz)表示。
“所以，你知道，看，我们将继续关注这些问题，并使这与自由和民主有关，”富尔克斯继续说。“利益攸关的美国人明白这一点，他们不会被其他任何事情所欺骗。”
拜登竞选团队预计的信心是在明尼苏达州民主党众议员迪恩·菲利普斯(Dean Phillips)对总统发起长期初选挑战之际产生的。最近第一次说如果选举成为拜登和前总统唐纳德·特朗普之间的复赛，他将考虑接受无标签的提名，看起来拜登“几乎肯定会输”。
这对菲利普斯来说是一个逆转，他曾表示如果他在民主党初选中失败，他将支持拜登。
No Labels是一个组织，该组织可能会推出两党“联合”的第三方票。
尽管富尔克斯周日表示，第三方组织不会给拜登的竞选带来重大风险，但拜登本人去年秋天表示，该组织将“帮助另一个人”，这是指特朗普。
无标签官员坚称，他们不想仅仅因为特朗普而伤害拜登。
富尔克斯周日表示，竞选活动正在接近拜登和最终共和党提名人之间的双向对决，并将努力创造一个分屏显示他们的政策分歧。
“我们的竞选活动将继续确保我们传递一个信息，让人们对这次选举的意义形成对比，那就是恢复民主，保护全国数百万美国人的自由，”富尔克斯告诉拉达茨。
但是，尽管2024年的竞选活动仍在升温，拜登的支持率却很低民意调查显示了广泛的选民情绪他年纪太大，心智不够敏锐，身体也不健康，无法担任公职。
2024年1月7日，拜登竞选总统的首席副竞选经理昆廷·富尔克斯出现在华盛顿特区的“会见媒体”节目中。
威廉·b·普洛曼/全国广播公司
11月可能给拜登带来麻烦的另一个因素是黑人选民的表现可能不佳，黑人选民是民主党的核心基础，他们的支持率似乎在民调中有所下降。
拜登的亲密盟友、南卡罗来纳州民主党众议员吉姆·克莱伯恩最近表示，他“非常关注”黑人选民参加总统竞选。
副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯在接受美国广播公司采访时表示，竞选团队试图对此进行反击在上周的独家采访中他们正在响应社区的需求。
富尔克斯在“本周”节目中认为，拜登政府为非洲裔美国人做的事情比任何其他政府都多，他列举了黑人财富的增加和种族财富差距的缩小。
他告诉Raddatz，该运动正在努力“发出一个明确的信号，第一，我们不认为他们是理所当然的;第二，我们认识到我们需要在这次竞选中赢得他们的支持，并与他们沟通...本届政府为改善他们的生活所做的一切工作。”
富尔克斯说，出售政府的记录也是竞选团队的计划，以消除选民对拜登高龄的担忧。总统在第二个任期结束时将86岁。(拜登只比特朗普大三岁。)
“我们有一个简单的公式，那就是结果，”富尔克斯说。“年龄等于智慧等于结果和经验。”
“这次选举不是关于年龄的，”富尔克斯坚持说。“这次选举关乎自由和民主，以及民主党人在拜登总统的领导下认为人们应该获得更多自由而不是更少自由的事实，共和党人希望收回并剥夺这一点。”
然而，Raddatz随后指出，“这就是你的对手对拜登总统的抨击。唐纳德·特朗普经常谈论它。”
“我敢肯定，对他们来说，谈论年龄比谈论他们想剥夺女性选择的权利或剥夺全国三分之一因唐纳德·特朗普而生活在国家堕胎禁令下的女性的生育自由要容易得多，”富尔克斯回应道。
Biden campaign dismisses 3rd-party and No Labels threat in 2024: Voters won't be 'fooled'
President Joe Biden's campaign is dismissing threats that a third-party candidacy, likea potential No Labels "unity" ticket, could siphon crucial votes from him in a close election in November, arguing that voters won't be "fooled" by those options.
"At the end of the day, there's only going to be two parties that have an ability to get to 270 electoral votes and that's going to be Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee and whoever emerges from the extreme Republican primary that's going on right now," Quentin Fulks, the Biden campaign's principal deputy manager, told ABC News "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday.
"So, you know, look, we're gonna stay focused on the issues and make this about freedom and democracy," Fulks continued. "The Americans that have the most at stake understand that and they're not going to be fooled by anything else."
The Biden campaign's projected confidence comes as Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who is mounting a long-shot primary challenge against the president,recently said for the first timethat he would consider accepting No Labels' nomination if the election becomes a rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump and it looked like Biden was "almost certain to lose."
That's a reversal for Phillips, who had said that if he loses in the Democratic primary, he would support Biden.
No Labels is a group that is fielding a possible bipartisan "unity" third-party ticket.
While Fulks said Sunday that third-party groups do not pose a major risk of spoiling Biden's campaign, Biden himself said last fall that the group would "help the other guy," in reference to Trump.
No Labels officials have insisted they don't want to run a ticket merely to hurt Biden over Trump.
Fulks said Sunday that the campaign is approaching the race as two-way matchup between Biden and the eventual Republican nominee and will work to create a split-screen of their policy differences.
"Our campaign is going to continue to make sure that we're delivering a message to draw that contrast about what this election is all about and that's restoring democracy and protecting freedoms for millions of Americans across this country," Fulks told Raddatz.
But, while the 2024 campaign is only still ramping up, Biden is running with weak approval numbers andwhat polling shows is widespread voter sentimentthat he's too old and without enough mental sharpness or physical health to serve in office.
Something else that could spell trouble for Biden in November is a potential underperformance with Black voters, who are core to the Democratic Party's base and whose support appears to be softening in the polls.
Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a close Biden ally, recently said he was "very concerned" about Black voters showing up for the president.
The campaign has tried to push back, with Vice President Kamala Harris telling ABC Newsin an exclusive interview last weekthat they are responding to the community's needs.
Fulks argued on "This Week" that Biden's administration has done more for African Americans than any other, citing an increase in Black wealth and a shrinking of the racial wealth gap.
He told Raddatz that the campaign is working to "send a clear signal that, one, we don't take them for granted; two, we recognize that we need to earn their support in this campaign and communicate with them ... all the work that this administration has done to make their lives better."
Selling the administration's record is also the campaign's plan to counter the voter concerns about Biden's advanced age, Fulks said. The president would be 86 at the end of a second term. (Biden is just three years older than Trump.)
"We have a simple formula for that and that's results," Fulks said. "Age equals wisdom equals results and experience."
"This election is not going to be about age," Fulks maintained. "This election is about freedom and democracy and the fact that Democrats, under President Biden's leadership, believe that people deserve more freedom, not less and Republicans want to roll that back and rip it away."
Raddatz followed up, however, to note that "that is what your opponents are hammering about President Biden. Donald Trump talks about it constantly."
"I'm sure it's much easier for them to talk about age than it is to talk about the fact that they want to rip away a woman's right to choose or take away reproductive freedom from a third of women across this country that are living under national abortion ban because of Donald Trump," Fulks responded.
