Buttigieg won a blue town twice

[Exotiki]

I've heard the saying that Pete Buttigieg has had success in a red state, therefore he's better equipped than others to defeat Trump.

This is misleading. Every red state has blue towns where progressives will always win.
For instance, the Democratic nominee will likely win Salt Lake County in Utah. It will not mean that said Democrat will have "succeeded" at the state level in this very red state.

[msongs]

1. kamala won in a blue state but most states are red. so much for her chances lol nt

[Demsrule86]

33. Right and it is my opinion she loses a general.

[JI7]

2. that's why he is running for president instead of statewide just like Beto

and Tim Ryan.

[Demsrule86]

34. He was a mayor...did not win a house seat.

[JI7]

35. house seats are not statewide elections either.

[Indykatie]

3. The Media Rarely Points Out That Pete is Mayor of a College Town in Indiana n/t

[dsc]

4. South Bend is not a college town

Notre Dame is in its own town. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notre_Dame,_Indiana

[UniteFightBack]

12. For all intents and purposes it is...it's right there. The whole area and surrounding towns it's

all about Notre Dame.

[aidbo]

13. It's fun to be wrong!

Indiana University South Bend (IU South Bend) is a public university in South Bend, Indiana. It is the third largest campus of Indiana University.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_University_South_Bend

[marylandblue]

17. It's not that much of a college town.

Indiana University has 8,000 students in a town of 100,000. Compare that to College Station, TX. Texas A&M has 70,000 students out of a town of 120,000.

[dsc]

20. by that definition pretty much any city is a college town

8000 students out if 100k plus people isn't a college town

[Blue_true]

5. Really.

Name a person in the democratic primary who has won outside of a blue state. You may say Biden has, but there was another person on that ticket.

[Renew Deal]

6. Like California?

[marylandblue]

7. I think the idea is that he won in the Northern Indiana Rust Belt

Which means he could lose Indiana but win Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio.

[JI7]

8. Hillary won the area he is mayor of also

[marylandblue]

9. Sure but he did a lot better than she did, while other area Democrats

did worse than they usually do in 2016. And his campaign is targeting the rust belt voters she supposedly ignored.

[Dawson Leery]

10. kick

[SidDithers]

11. Pete ran for State Treasurer...

he lost by 24 points.

Sid

[JI7]

14. then he didn't do better than Hillary statewide at all

[Celerity]

16. Hillary did not run in Indiana in 2010

Hillary got 37.9% of the vote for POTUS in Indiana in 2016

Buttigieg got 37.5% for Treasurer in 2010 (when he was 28 years old), in an off year election that was a blowout for Dems statewide.

The other two Democrats for statewide positions (Auditor and Secretary of State) got 37.0% each

Brad Ellsworth got 40% for US Senate against the Rethug Coates

[Celerity]

15. in 2010, a horrid year for Democrats nationwide, every IN statewide race was a Rethug blowout

He also was only 28 years old, and he learned a lot from the experience.

He talked about it on Meet The Press today.

great interview

[Drunken Irishman]

18. Agreed. I live in Salt Lake...

Our mayor is a gay woman and the favorite to replace her this November is a gay man. We haven't elected a Republican mayor to the city since the 1970s. Rocky Anderson, an open socialist, served as mayor for two terms in the 00s. He also ran for president in 2012. No, his winning in SLC didn't prove he was capable of winning outside the city.

Had Mayor Pete been elected to a statewide race, then the point would work...but a Democrat winning in a college town isn't that crazy.

[Celerity]

19. save for the fact South Bend is not a college town per se.

It was a dying rust belt city with a 45% minority population that had lost a massive part of it's industrial base starting in the 1960's.

Notre Dame, IN (where Notre Dame University is) is a completely separate municipality. The students and staff that live there cannot vote in the South Bend elections.

[Drunken Irishman]

37. A lot of college downs have large minority populations...

This point isn't a good one, IMO.

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, is 41% black. That doesn't make it any less a college town?

The second largest employer in the City of South Bend is the University of Notre Dame and the fourth largest employer is Indiana University South Bend.

Definitely wouldn't call South Bend anything other than a college town - and one that is strongly Democratic. Look. Mayor Pete is impressive but his being mayor in a town that hasn't elected a Republican since the 70s doesn't mean he has broad appeal and it doesn't prove he can win in conservative areas. If he was a senator, or governor, from Indiana, that would be different.

[Celerity]

38. The University of Alabama has more minority students than the entire total enrolment of Notre Dame

so that skews it bit, but I do see some merit to what you say. I also agree on Governor being a step up in experience from a mayor of a medium size city, but Buttigieg oversees (and South Bend has a strong mayor system so the buck really does stop with him) a much larger budget and many more employees and staff through the prism of an executive than a US Senator does, and certainly more than the average House Rep. Obviously South Bend is not a mega-city like Chicago, Houston, LA or NYC, but still, I am quite comfortable with his level of executive experience. Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

[Drunken Irishman]

39. I am uneasy electing anyone nowadays who doesn't have foreign policy experience.

To be honest, the last five presidents who've entered office with the least amount of foreign policy experience have been arguably the worst when it comes to foreign policy outside maybe one - Bill Clinton.

It's not fair to compare Mayor Pete to, say, Trump or Bush or Reagan in that regard because their policies were reactionary and awful, but I feel it is fair to compare him to, say, Jimmy Carter, and while I respect the hell out of Jimmy Carter, he struggled mightily in the foreign policy arena and I think that was a direct result of the fact he didn't really have the experience of global affairs to handle the heat, which was realized with his overall handling of Iran and the Shah.

Clinton has been the exception of a governor who moved into the White House and handled things relatively okay. But Clinton also benefited from the lack of the Cold War, and while terrorism was increasingly becoming a problem, didn't have to face the post-9/11 landscape like Bush, Obama, Trump and whomever replaces Trump. I am not sure how he would've handled those responsibilities (but to be honest, I'm not sure if Clinton even gets elected if the Cold War doesn't end).

Ultimately, I don't doubt Pete could handle the domestic agenda of the country. I do have concerns about how he'd navigate his legislation in the halls of congress (this was something that killed Carter, as he butted heads a lot with Senate Democrats, specifically Ted Kennedy, despite having Walter Mondale, a respected senator, as his Veep - and really dinged Clinton early in his presidency as he failed to take advantage of total Democratic control of the congress when it came to passing healthcare reform or even his stimulus) and I believe that will be an important role for the next president. Obama was able to work well with House and Senate Democrats, for the most part, and it led to the most sweeping legislative accomplishments of any modern president.

But I think what helped him is he knew the game. He and Biden both knew how to play it because they had been in congress themselves. Carter and Clinton really didn't and it became apparent when they struggled with compromise and playing the game, and it cost 'em major legislative accomplishments - despite having respected former senators as their veeps.

[IndianaDave]

21. I'm not sure why this point has any bearing on anything significant.

People don't appear to be drawn to Pete Buttigieg because of elections he won or lost.

Clearly, in the current political situation, he has an a engaging message and a personal style of relating and communicating that is both effective and positive.

The people I talk with never wring their hands about the size or makeup of South Bend. Instead, they're enthused because Pete powerfully articulates a message of reestablishing our Democratic Party's connections with its roots, and solving problems which will affect the future.

I could be more detailed, but in brief, the more I hear him speak, the more fully I become committed to his candidacy. It's what he's doing and saying right now that's significant.

I may be mistaken, but it feels as if your post is dismissive of Pete Buttigieg simply because he's from a small, fairly Democratic city and found some political success there. I think that misses the point that -- regardless of how he got here -- he is a real presence on the Democratic political scene, and he's generating serious interest and gaining greater support every day. This trajectory is not diminishing, and I'm confident that he will continue to be a major contender for the Presidency.

Whatever happens, I have promised to vote for the Democratic Nominee, and I will, with pleasure. But I would suggest that -- to paraphrase a song from the 60's -- "All we are saying, is give Pete a chance!"

Thanks for reading my response.

[Lefta Dissenter]

26. Thumbs up

to your response. 👍🏼

[Kurt V.]

30. +1

[Socal31]

22. Your point would be valid.. .

...if we were to pretend that the "blue" in IN is the same hue as the blue in NY or CA.

South Bend is an economically depressed town in the Rust Belt. It was even more so when Pete took over, judging by the Per-Capita income statistics.

Then he was reelected with 80% of the vote.

[Socal31]

32. Nobody said it was red....

[brooklynite]

23. Because "Democratic" always equals "progressive"?

[IronLionZion]

24. His style of campaigning gets conservatives to be more open to liberal policies

he's not in it to win the presidency, but for his bold progressive policies to gain traction and hopefully get included in our party and candidate platforms.

[Gothmog]

25. South Bend is a college town

[brooklynite]

31. So is Lynchburg, VA (home of Liberty University)

What's your point?

[dsc]

36. No it isn't unless Columbus Ohio is too

Notre Dame isn't in South Bend and the university that is in South Bend has about 8,500 students in a city of 100k. Ohio State has about 70k students in a city of about 700,000 or so people and no one would call that a college town

[Drunken Irishman]

41. Two of the top four employers in South Bend are universities...

Notre Dame is the second largest employer in South Bend. Indiana University South Bend is the 4th. It absolutely is a college town.

[dsc]

42. Columbus' largest employer is Ohio State

and again no one would think Columbus is a college town. Notre Dame isn't even in South Bend so it can't be the 2nd largest employer in South Bend.

[Drunken Irishman]

43. It is the 2nd largest employer in South Bend...

That's a fact.

Columbus is a city, not really a town. It's got a population of nearly 900,000 people in a CMA of over two-million. South Bend has a population of 102,000 people and a metro of only 318,000. Not comparable.

[USALiberal]

27. Nice try! Nt