It used to be accepted Woody Allen wisdom that 80% of success was just showing up.

Not in Joe Biden’s case, though.

Every time he ran for president and campaigned in New Hampshire he lost, including in 2020, which was the last time he showed up campaigning for a primary victory.

He came in fifth, behind Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, and left the state before the votes were even counted.

This time he stayed away, and he won.

So, there is a message there, mixed as it is.

It is mixed because the Democratic National Committee, which Biden controls, earlier stripped New Hampshire of its right to run the first Democratic primary in the nation in favor of South Carolina, which is more friendly to Biden.

It called the New Hampshire primary “meaningless.”  Biden’s name was not on the Democratic ballot as were the names of Democrat challengers Rep. Dean Phillips and activist Marianne Williamson.

Meaningless or not, Biden faced a political embarrassment if either Phillips or Williamson won the NH Democratic primary even if Biden was not running in it.

So, Biden supporters launched a campaign to get Democratic and unenrolled voters to write in Biden’s name and it turned out to be successful.

Democrats from Massachusetts like Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, as well as other Democratic leaders, poured into the Granite State to push the “write in Joe” campaign. And it worked.

Biden, for the first time, won the unofficial NH Democratic presidential primary by winning at least 25% of the write in vote.

Suddenly the Democratic primary was not so “meaningless” anymore.

The absent Biden, who earlier stiffed New Hampshire, called his write in victory “a historic demonstration of commitment to our democratic process.”

His New Hampshire win may even indicate that the ageing Biden, 81, could run for re-election by limiting his physical campaign appearances and once again campaign from the basement of his Delaware home as he did four years ago during the COVID pandemic.

If he can win in New Hampshire while not setting foot in the place, perhaps he can do that elsewhere as well.

The alternative is to campaign against a formidable Donald Trump who just about walked away with the Republican nomination for president with his win over Nikki Haley.

Not only did Trump show up in New Hampshire, he campaigned with the vigor and enthusiasm that he had in 2016 when he came out of nowhere to defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton. He did not have the same mojo in 2020 when Biden beat him.

Trump is always better on offense.

And this time he appears to be more formidable than he was back then, perhaps because he has the issues at his back, such as the throngs of illegal immigrants and deadly fentanyl that Biden has allowed to flow into the country, or the soaring increase in crime, the rotting of our cities, or the high cost of food or the two wars Biden is supporting.

Biden can talk all he wants about abortion and “saving” democracy, but the issues that most concern Americans across the board are illegal immigration and the economy.

Both were under control when Trump was president. Both are out of control under Biden. People remember.

Those are Trump’s issues, which is why Haley has no chance of beating Trump anywhere.  She can talk about both, but Trump dealt successfully with those issues when he was president, and when she served in his administration as the ambassador to the UN.

She would be wise to gracefully drop out and endorse Trump while her endorsement has some meaning.

Trump is showing up. Big time.

Peter Lucas is a veteran Massachusetts political reporter and columnist.