Discussion: South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg Joins 2020 Presidential Race

Rhodes Scholar
Navy Officer
Openly Gay
Barely old enough to run

Love it. Add him to the list of peeps to watch.

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Donā€™t think this will be his year, but kudos for trying. Weā€™ll keep an eye on you for the futureā€¦

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I will add him to the list, but tell him to subtract the ā€œyoungest mayorā€ accolade - Ravenstahl was mayor of Pittsburgh at age 26, and he only claimed to be ā€œamong the youngest.ā€

(A better assist on pronouncing his name would help - ā€œ-juhj?ā€)

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His commercial is very effective

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Itā€™s time for young and bold. Heā€™s right - weā€™re all losing except the 1%. I grew up 20 miles east of South Bend in Elkhart and remember Dennis Kucinich as mayor of Cleveland. Iā€™d still support Dennis for prez, but the new guy is the youth we need, much like AOC to me.

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Put me down as tentatively excited that he may be able to help force some important issues out into the open. He seems genuinely bright and disruptive. Heā€™s one of these guys I keep seeing pop up in progressive articles every half year or so. Iā€™m not sure Iā€™d want to see him at the top of a ticket but having a strong democratic primary field is nice.

Heā€™s an evidenced based progressive, so he styles himself as going after doable goals. He wants statehood for DC and PR, to abolish the electoral college, and for every home to draw net zero energyā€¦ he said ā€œUncle Sam is gonna mail you a [solar panel] kit.ā€ I support that clear eyed approach. We do need these things.

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Mayors have to deal with details that actually affect peopleā€™s lives. That alone would be a refreshing change.

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I doubt he will win, but heā€™ll help push the Overton window left, and that might be the point. A bit of a Cynthia Nixon effect - loses, but shows the winner that progressive politics are the way to go and gets copycatted for votes. Though thereā€™s a lot of competition for that.

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You know how AP usually puts in parenthesis as a way to help readers learn how to pronounce a personā€™s name? Would like to have seen that here in this case. Buttigieg? Anyone?

Never heard of the guy, but hey, good luckā€¦the field is wide open. I see heā€™ll be selling a book about himself soon so I canā€™t tell if this run is to sell books at this point or a serious run for the Presidency on his part. So hard to tell these days.

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He ran for DNC chair in seriousness. I expect he is serious but since heā€™s pragmatic I doubt heā€™s expecting to win.

(A better assist on pronouncing his name would help - ā€œ-juhj?ā€)

Funny, I thought the same things: ā€œWow, even the phonetic spelling is too tough for me to pronounceā€ LOL!

I like his boldness, but a little green. Easily Senator or Governor material, though. I like his resume. Agree on pushing the Overton window.

Easiest is ā€œbuddah-judgeā€. Works for us in South Bend!

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Heā€™s dead serious. His name is pronounced ā€œbuddah-judgeā€.

I hope he goes far. Plus this can be Indianaā€™s apology for the disaster that is Pence, but we did try to warn you all he was an empty suited bigot.

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Iā€™d guess the future is what heā€™s after. Heā€™s starting early, and thatā€™s very smart.

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Yes! Pete is awesome! He is my #1 pick and Iā€™m frankly so excited by his views, language, methods, and intentions to revamp our democratic polity.

He can and will change the frame of the debate. Reclaim the political and rhetorical territory we as Democrats have ceded to right wingers for decades. The language and vocabulary. The framing and the position of the overton window. Iā€™m so excited by his ethos that Iā€™m considering moving and joining the campaign to help with my professional skillset.

Everyone should listen to these podcasts with Mayor Pete, first with our host Josh Marshall and second with Jonathan Capehart from WP:

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/podcast/pete-buttigieg-podcast

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This long form article too: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/magazine/wp/2019/01/14/feature/could-pete-buttigieg-become-the-first-millennial-president/

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:white_check_mark: Obama said the same years ago!

Pete Buttigieg - A really, really good man.

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