2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg makes gains in crowds, TV spots and campaign cash

[babylonsister]

2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg makes gains in crowds, TV spots and campaign cash
Politics Mar 26, 2019 3:08 PM EDT


COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg is riding in the back of a rented minivan to his last event of the day in South Carolina, munching on cold french fries and critiquing his stage performance so far.

The enthusiastic crowds of hundreds who’ve packed his first two stops have been much larger than the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and his team expected. It’s “wonderful,” he says, but the cheering and prolonged applause are messing with his delivery. Sometimes he neglects to pause, and his next words are drowned out. Other times people start clapping when he doesn’t expect it.

“I need to relearn the timing of my stump speech,” Buttigieg says. “I’ve been used to a format where I go in, there’s 50 people, I do my little spiel and then we have some Q&A and hopefully they walk away impressed. Now every one of these things we put on the calendar as a meet and greet is turning out to be a rally.”

Buttigieg, a veteran and Rhodes scholar, was the longest of long shots when he announced a presidential exploratory committee in January. No mayor has ever been elected president, much less one from a community of roughly 100,000 people in the middle of America, and Buttigieg is barely old enough to be eligible for the job.

But his underdog bid is gaining momentum, and the clean-cut guy known to most people as “Mayor Pete” can feel it. Now he has to figure out how to turn one of the first surprises of the nascent race for the Democratic nomination into a full-fledged presidential campaign — and one that isn’t remembered as a mere quirk.

“The buzz helps,” Buttigieg says. “But you want to make sure that you have enough substance and enough organization that any kind of flavor-of-the-month period is something you can outlive.”

more...

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/2020-hopeful-pete-buttigieg-makes-gains-in-crowds-tv-spots-and-campaign-cash?fbclid=IwAR0gP1W6knf2oPtsJoWFCKhd4PFVWPUodu6JDSKWvIDXajqhkUWHPfr-b6s

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Great story, my dear babylonsister!

I shared it on my Facebook timeline!

It's funny--the better he does (and he is) the more nervous I get about what's next! I really want him to get the nomination, and then, the Presidency. But it's scary.

I'm in with Pete for the long haul, no matter what.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

2. Very impressive that Mayor Pete... gotta hand it to him.

Bernie & Elizabeth 2020!!!
Welcome to the revolution!!!

[customerserviceguy]

3. He has to be

the most underestimated candidate of this election. When I first heard of him, my thoughts were overeager, trying to run for VP, not seasoned enough, but I'm starting to change my mind.