Pete Buttigieg (It's 'Boot-Edge-Edge') Is Making Waves in the 2020 Race. (NYT)

[elleng]

ROCK HILL, S.C. — Somewhere between Pete Buttigieg being mistaken for a teenager making a promposal, and answering a question in Norwegian, and proclaiming that it was millennials’ turn to lead “at the highest level,” South Carolina got a crash course in a new Democratic celebrity.

Mr. Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Ind., drew large, enthusiastic crowds in his first campaign visit to the early-voting state over the weekend. That followed a series of well-received appearances on national TV, which have helped fuel his new popularity: An Iowa poll on Monday showed him jumping to third place in the 2020 caucus race, and a Quinnipiac national poll on Thursday showed him rising to fifth and tied with Senator Elizabeth Warren.

“This was supposed to be a little meet-and-greet Q. and A.,” he told hundreds of people in a college gym in Rock Hill, after his event was bumped from the library to accommodate a wave of RSVPs. . .

Ideologically, Mr. Buttigieg is a progressive — sometimes an adventurous one, calling to expand the Supreme Court and abolish the Electoral College. But his main themes are generational change and winning back Rust Belt voters who supported Mr. Trump.

“I think there’s still an attitude in some parts of the party that what we have to do is find the final proof that Trump’s a bad guy and show it to everybody,” Mr. Buttigieg said in an interview. “What it misses is there’s a lot of people where I live who were under no illusions about his character. They already get that he’s a bad guy, but they made a decision with their eyes open to vote to burn the house down.”

Mr. Buttigieg’s prescription for winning back the white working class is hardly revolutionary: He emphasizes traditional Democratic priorities like health care and education, while assuring voters without a college degree that they can thrive in a changing economy, rather than promising a restoration of the past.

In South Bend, a city that was in long decline after Studebaker shut its auto plant in the 1960s, Mr. Buttigieg bulldozed vacant buildings and invested in infrastructure, which led to a revived downtown and a stabilizing population after decades of flight. . .

His friend David Axelrod, the former political strategist to President Barack Obama, called it a “way, way uphill battle,’’ adding: “One of the realities is that he is a new-generation candidate and now Beto O’Rourke is in the race, and Beto fills a lot of space. They’re fishing in the same pond, and Beto has a larger fishing pole.” . .

Aaron Olson, 40, a voter who heard Mr. O’Rourke the day before attending a Buttigieg appearance in Columbia, said Mr. Buttigieg was more policy-grounded than Mr. O’Rourke, who admits to working things out in real time.

“I think Pete Buttigieg is more down to brass tacks,” Mr. Olson said. “He’s more calm and reasoned. I think Beto has a dance track going in his head when he’s speaking.” . .

At rallies Mr. Buttigieg’s framing of his sexual orientation plays to Americans’ embrace of strong families and equality, and it is one of his biggest applause lines.

He recalls how his husband was at the bedside of Mr. Buttigieg’s mother when she needed triple bypass surgery. “He could be there in the hospital because in the eyes of the law, just as in my heart, he is a member of my family,” Mr. Buttigieg said in Rock Hill. . .

The crowds at his South Carolina events featured as many voters with gray hair as millennials. . .

In a state where 60 percent of Democratic primary voters are black, there were not many African-Americans in Mr. Buttitgieg’s crowds, even at historically black Clinton College, where he packed the gym in Rock Hill.

“I like Mayor Pete, I think he has tremendous potential,” said Anita Nelam, a black Democratic activist in Columbia. She said Mr. Biden was her favorite, an endorsement pinned on her Twitter feed. “But I don’t know what Joe Biden is doing,” she said. “I think having somebody from the Midwest is going to make a big difference for the Democrats.”

“What Joe and Mayor Pete bring to the party is someone who could speak to those folks in a way they can be heard.”'

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/us/politics/buttigieg-2020-president.html?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good article! It takes a clear-eyed look at him and his chances.

Thanks for posting it, my dear elleng.

[LakeArenal]

2. Not to be argumentative, but on the View..

Mayor Pete said Buddha-judge.

The ladies loved him. I did too.

[elleng]

3. I say Buddha-judge too!

Apparently he and Chasten, his husband, have a running argument about this!

[LakeArenal]

5. I'm sure some one will say they heard something else.

Any for Midwest....

How about Biden/Eric Swalwell?

38yrs old, Rep in CA, born in IowA,
Law School in Maryland.

Great personality. Great pundit on the TeeVee.

[USALiberal]

11. Buddha Judge!! nt

[DoctorJoJo]

13. It Is Budda-jEdge!

My hometown mayor.

[JI7]

4. it's kind of the same but reading it as buddha judge is easier

[mobeau69]

6. Just say Bootedge about about 3 or 4 times real fast. Then

just add the second edge. Bootedge-edge. It's easy!

[greyl]

7. Not exactly, he just didn't argue about the host's pronunciation.

Pete's husband says it's pronounced "Buddha judge", while Pete has the edge edge.

[IronLionZion]

9. There's not much difference

say it both ways and they sound almost the same. It's whether the second syllable is ah or eh.

Mayor Pete in his townhall said it is edge-edge.

[GReedDiamond]

21. Here...

[DavidDvorkin]

8. He just climbed to third place on Predictit.

[LakeArenal]

10. Fine by me. He may be my second choice.

So I have Pedictit beat.
There are too many that I don’t want in the bunch, and Pete stands above those.

Second or third out of sixteen and Joe....

If Pete makes it to elected candidate, I am more than happy to vote for him. Unlike others, whom I wouldn’t say hold my nose to vote, but would be less confident on the national front.

[DavidDvorkin]

12. He would be a great v.p. choice.

[LakeArenal]

15. I stopped short of saying VP as Pete is running for President.

If he drops out, then he’d be perfect for me personally.

[pdsimdars]

18. He'd make a better president. Listen to him and stop playing political games match making. . . .

[DavidDvorkin]

19. Sure he would, but I'm being realistic

I'd be delighted if he won the nomination. See my preference at the bottom of the post. But I don't think he will. At that point, he'll be a leading candidate for v.p.

[pdsimdars]

22. And I don't think you're being realistic. I think he can win. Let's see how it develops.

[Honeycombe8]

14. He said on The View that it's BUDDHA-JUDGE. But others call him BUDDHA-JEG.

So I'm wondering if HE knows how to pronounce it.

[mysteryowl]

16. He is at the top of my list.

To be fair, I have yet to hear speeches or town halls from many of them. The first debate is in June and that will really help.

I watched his townhall with CNN and I was blown away.

[pdsimdars]

17. He also said that "Buddha-judge" gets you there too. And I prefer Buddha Judge. More authoritative

[wildflower]

20. He is impressive

I'd like to hear more from him on women's issues though. Do you know of any good clips or excerpts?