NewsNation Chief Washington Correspondent and The Hill on NewsNation moderator Blake Burman shares his political reporting and campaign viewpoints leading into the 2024 election.

If you’ve read a few of these newsletters, first off, thank you! Also, you probably know I like to point out numbers here and there. Here’s a couple: 3.3 and 3.  

We found out today the economy grew last quarter at a 3.3% annualized rate, blowing well past expectations. The economy continues to remain resilient in the face of increasing interest rates. Expect the White House and the Biden campaign to continue to pound “Bidenomics,” but I’m keeping comments from JP Morgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon in the back of my mind. “I think it’s a mistake to assume everything is hunky-dory,” he said just last week. Will this election come back to this time tested phrase? “It’s the economy, stupid.” 

As for three, I went back and dug up comments that were made after last year’s AFC Championship game. Star quarterback Joe Burrow said after the Cincinnati Bengals three-point defeat, “It’s a tough loss. We didn’t make the plays we needed to win this game, and they did down the stretch.” Now, compare that to Nikki Haley Tuesday evening after her 11-point loss in New Hampshire, a state she focused on for months. “Now you’ve all heard the chatter among the political class. They’re falling all over themselves saying this race is over… This race is far from over.”  It begs the question, should Haley acknowledge her 32-point loss in Iowa and 11-point loss in New Hampshire to Donald Trump and get out of the race, or should she keep on going in the face of multiple defeats? 

Does Haley Have a Path? 

Sean Spicer, NewsNation political contributor and former Trump White House press secretary, joined the show Wednesday and said forget a path, Haley doesn’t even have a bike lane. “There’s not a path. There’s not a sidewalk, there’s not a dirt road, there’s not a bike lane … there’s not enough gas in the car,” Spicer told us.  

However, in a memo on Tuesday Haley’s campaign outlined the path it sees. Haley’s home state of South Carolina is the next contested state. Then, there’s Super Tuesday on March 5. “Eleven of the 16 Super Tuesday states have open or semi-open primaries. Of the 874 delegates available on Super Tuesday, roughly two thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries,” campaign manager Betsy Ankney wrote. 

Question to consider: Will Haley even make it to Super Tuesday if she loses by double digits in her some state on February 24? For example, in 2016 Marco Rubio dropped out after losing Florida, his home state, by 18 points to Trump. 

What About Dean Phillips? 

The Minnesota Congressman challenging President Biden pulled 20% of the vote in New Hampshire, but also lost by almost 40 points to the president, whose name didn’t even appear on the ballot (there was a write-in campaign for him). However, Phillips, a businessman worth nine figures, is making the argument that his barely months-old campaign already has a sizable market share. Former presidential candidate Andrew Yang is a Phillips supporter. 

“I just think we have to take a step back and say it is ridiculous and, and terrible that in a country of 330 million we’re going to be choosing between these two octogenarians and we’re having conversations about which of them has a cognitive disorder, and which one of them doesn’t. We deserve better,” Yang told us.  

Question to consider: Should Phillips’ 20% in New Hampshire be considered a warning sign for Democrats about a lack of enthusiasm for the incumbent, or should Democrats celebrate that President Biden picked up almost 60% without even being on the ballot? 

Are There Trump Warning Signs? 

Donald Trump is the de facto leader of the Republican party, and nothing we’ve seen over the last eight-plus years suggests otherwise. The Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is even calling for the party to unify. President Biden and his campaign are now treating this as a Trump-Biden rematch. But consider these numbers from voters in New Hampshire:  

Should Republicans be concerned with the above? The panel debated: 

Question to consider: Do you think the New Hampshire numbers are just one data point, or something we will continue to see as more voters head to the polls? 

We will see you tonight at 6p ET on The Hill! 

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The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation.