Up to today he technically had an “exploratory committee” rather than a campaign. Just one of those arcane bits of campaign funding regulation. Someone with an exploratory committee who is not actually a declared candidate can raise funds but isn’t bound by all of the restrictions a declared candidate is.
I think Pete is more accomplished and more substantive than most of the candidates (except Hickenlooper who, alas, has deployed a cloaking device that makes him invisible to the media).
I like that he is a veteran. His youth (a millenial! Yikes!) doesn’t bother me now after hearing him talk about real ideas.
I am getting that Barack vibe.
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I’m kinda sorta anti-Pete. I wouldn’t put him up for much, perhaps Veterans Affairs. I just see him as a useful tool to make the white male candidates further divide a relatively smaller pie of white male voters. That makes way for the women.
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Just sent my 10 smackers; use 'em well Pete!
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This didn’t strike me as particularly Progressive. He’s going to have to avoid missteps like this if he’s going to get any traction with the left.
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I’m not going to rain on our absentee mayor’s big day (mostly because Mother Nature did that and more [snow!] on it) but yes, I am put off by the fact that Buttigieg has been noticeably absent from South Bend for a significant amount of time. I’m fairly certain the city is not being reimbursed for the days he’s spent on his media tour, not tending to the city’s serious needs, like the homeless and our potholed streets. At least for his rally today, he was in town. I very much see a cult of Pete-sonallity rising. Buttigieg is smart and well-spoken, but in my estimation, he is not ready for the job of President. I prefer a candidate with a more substantiative track record of accomplishments in public service.
Also OT, it’s insane that the campaign for U.S. President starts so early. We need to shorten the campaign season. The only folks lengthy campaigns benefit are the advertisers and consultants. It is an obscenity of wasted time and money, and the majority of people are not yet paying attention. Of course the idea that the citizens of Iowa and New Hampshire have undue influence on the early vote is also absurd. Their population demographics do not in any way reflect our nation’s. It’s a screwed up system that consistently gets us less than optimal nominees!
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Yes. And?
This says more about FOX than it does AOC, aside from the obvious fact that she gets under their collective skin over there.
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That was snark, wasn’t it?
Run primaries in 6 multi-state groupings every 3 weeks. Rotate the order each cycle by random draw.
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It’s interesting. And it’s easy, and probably salutary, to be a little suspicious of that phenomenon whenever it happens. Alex Pareene, who’s as smart as he is cynical, suggested it’s naive not to see how certain of the candidates have scored really connected and wired-in advisers early on and it shows in the coverage. There might be something to that but I’m going to swear on any holy book you care to name that I knew nothing and thought nothing about Buttigieg until I heard him talk, whereupon I said “Wow.” Nobody whispered in my ear that this is the horse to back. It was, no matter what Pareene says, “organic.” He talked, I listened and was impressed. That seems to be most people’s experience. Obama gave me that gut feeling too. I don’t think it’s a thing you can hire or buy.
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Which part?
Folks still miss Obama
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The odds are high he’ll get this one’s. He’s already gotten my money.
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There’s not much argument that we can point to segments of the population where his being gay, considered in isolation as a factor, is probably going to be a drawback. A big drawback. But can we be sure it’ll play out that way? I’m interested to see how he does in the primaries, because those segments vote in our primaries. I’ve said before, I can think of other segments—the educated white women in the blue burbs I know best come to mind—who’d fight like wounded bears to get to those doorbells and bring out the vote for this guy. I’m going to a local political event tomorrow and will report back any interesting news. We’ve got a deep bench and I’m not worried but Buttigieg is something a little special.
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I worry that she becomes a very visible target for some Trump loving lunatics. I fear for her safety, Buttigieg’s as well.
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I agree. I don’t blame AOC for what FOX is doing. FOX is trying to paint all Democrats under the same “dangerous, socialist, government lovin’” brush and it’s obvious that AOC is their person to use to make that claim.
Not sure that is the person they ought to use (a hard working, minority, female who happens to be quite intelligent), but so be it.