I'm throwing my lot in with Mayor Pete

[SpankMe]

Selected him as my preferred candidate just now based on his speech where he calls for repeal of AUMF. With each speech his policies get more substantial and specific, and his tone and overall policy posture to most issues is squarely in my wheelhouse. Plus, he expresses himself so clearly and eloquently.

He's young, so there's plenty of time for him to try again in '24 if the Orange Asshole (Registered Trademark) wins again.

[True Dough]

1. Happy to have you, SpankMe

I won't even judge your fetish!

[trev]

2. Welcome aboard. :)

I'm an old man looking to elect a member of the new generation. In my mind, Buttigieg fits the bill.

[Demsrule86]

3. Are you kidding? I personally am not ok with orange asshole winning thus I will vote for Biden.

[cwydro]

4. Why can't Buttigieg win?

Young, whip-smart with an amazing educational background, military service, multi-lingual, apparently hard to ruffle, white, male...

What am I missing?

[mtnsnake]

6. + 1000

[Demsrule86]

15. Lack of experience first of all. And homphobes will not vote for him.

My daughter is a lesbian and I have seen first hand how evil people can be. We cant afford to lose. Trump gets another judge and we are done. He. Is the wrong nominee for 20.

[Politicub]

22. I've lived my life unafraid of homophobes.

And I have no doubt that Buttigieg will have so much support that homophobes won’t matter at all.

Pete ought not be disqualified just because he’s gay. I resent your post.

[DonViejo]

26. Racists didn't vote for Obama, did that stop you from...

voting for him? Did misogynists stop your voting for Sec'y Clinton? No? But you're going to let homophobes control your vote this time? Wow.

[cwydro]

27. Took the words right out of my mouth.

Amazing, isn’t it?

[DonViejo]

30. More like pathetic imo.

[patricia92243]

45. Very, very, very good point! Gives me a comeback when somebody say he is

gay, etc.

[Owens]

41. Lack of experience?

He has more experience than Trump does!!

Buttigieg is a graduate of Harvard University, a Rhodes Scholar, and a veteran of the War in Afghanistan. He's been the Mayor of South Bend since 2011.

Upon graduating from Harvard in 2004, Buttigieg was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and in 2007 he received a Bachelor of Arts degree with first-class honors in philosophy, politics and economics from Pembroke College, Oxford.

I'd say he is more than qualified.

[RLG]

19. The mayor of a college town who won with 8,500 votes?

Um, OK!

I'm still not impressed.

[marylandblue]

29. If Trump taught us one thing, it's that experience is irrelevant in voting.

[Celerity]

9. are YOU kidding?

You always offer up the same old, same old every time. Now you have graduated to belittling people simply for choosing another candidate than yours. BTW, I would say this if the OP had picked Warren, or Harris, or Booker, etc, especially as the new Quinnipiac University poll shows SIX of our potential candidates beating Trump by at least 5 points (which is literally 2 and a half times greater a margin than Sec Clinton won the popular vote by in 2016.)

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2627


Trump also trails each of those 6 Democrats among independents by at least 15 points.

https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2627


That same poll shows Biden sliding downward in support (down 8 points in last 6 weeks) from Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters:

https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/us/us06112019_trends_urox72.pdf/




You are a broken record on endless circular repeat:

'Only Biden can win, only Biden can win, ONLY Biden can win, repeat ad nauseam'.

AND, now you are upping it to putting down people who choose someone other than your candidate.

That is absolutely NOT a proven fact, no matter how many times you type it. If it was, then why even hold the primaries, as following your logic, that is setting us up for at least the possibility of a SURE loss?

[Tipperary]

17. Thank you for a great post!

[mtnsnake]

23. Best post of the day

especially the broken record part. That was spot on.

[USALiberal]

36. What a rude and baseless post! Nt

[Demsrule86]

42. If he loses he can run again...he's young-was the post I replied to.

So picking a candidate who you know may not win with a ...well maybe next time...is shocking with Trump in office.

[cwydro]

47. Right.

We see you.

[mtnsnake]

5. Excellent choice

Maybe even the best choice for all we know.

[democrank]

38. Ditto

[calguy]

7. Good choice

But I'm sticking with a better choice. Smokin Joe Biden. I like Pete, but he's not really yet ready to go from governing 100,000 people to governing the most powerful nation on earth. He deserves a high appointment in the Biden administration to gain experience governing on a national level.

[mobeau69]

8. Pete actually has more experience

Management Experience
Joe: 20 or so staff members
Pete: Over 1,000 city employees (South Bend has a strong mayor system)

Military Experience
Joe: None
Pete: US Navy, Active service in war zone

Educational Experience
No Contest (Trust me on this)

Pete outshines Joe in every category.

[Celerity]

10. I (just myself) would frame it this way

Buttigieg has 8 years as an executive overseeing a far larger group of employees and staff and a larger budget than any Senator or Representative does. South Bend has a strong mayor system so the buck really did stop with him. He also had massive interfacing with the Federal and State governments as well, plus dealt with multivariate social, economic and public relations issues. Pete can scale it up just fine, and the POTUS also has a truly massive (literally thousands at primary, secondary, and tertiary levels) amount of support staff, so it is the big picture that matters, and he is so, so gifted in the big picture department.

I try to avoid saying absolute statements like 'outshines in every category' as that is far too broad and subjective and a bit harsh, but that is just me.

[mobeau69]

11. Good job!

Much better than my shorthand.

[Celerity]

12. woot woot

[democrank]

39. Love it

[DrToast]

13. I like Mayor Pete, too, but hold on a second

The Office of the Vice President has over 200 employees. Don't forget that.

[Demsrule86]

16. No he doesnt. And he won't win POC...VERY IMPORTANT constituency.

I like the guy, but consider him inexperienced ...and not qualified in terms of foreign policy. And I think too many won't vote for him in the general because of his sexual orientation.

[Tipperary]

18. Pretty hung up on that sexual orientation thing, I notice.

Smh.

[Politicub]

24. He keeps posting variations on the same theme.

And it’s shameful to use Buttigieg’s orientation to disparage people. I’m gritting my teeth over here because I can’t say on DU what I really feel about a certain member.

[Tipperary]

25. Yes, it is pretty obvious. There are a few here doing that.

And always, they have a gay “friend “ or “relative.”

Transparent.

[marylandblue]

31. If POC won't vote for him, you don't have to worry at all.

He won't make it out of the primaries. If they do vote for him, he can win the primary. In the general, nobody will care about his qualifications or orientation, because of Trump's own deficiencies and Pete's amazing communication skill.

[Celerity]

33. +10000

[CaliforniaPeggy]

43. Very well said, my dear marylandblue! n/t

[RLG]

20. Call me when he can cultivate African American votes.

Then I might be impressed.

I still think he'll be swiftboated.

[DonViejo]

28. Name a Democrat that won't face "swiftboat" type...

opposition from the GOP, Trump and their thugs. Your excuse is BS.

[marylandblue]

32. AAs are a problem for Pete, but he would survive any swiftboating

Because his media strategy disarms the attack and turns the conversation back to things that matter.

[secondwind]

14. He is soo impressive!!

[Politicub]

21. He's fantastic.

Great choice!

[Bayard]

34. The more I hear from him

The more I like him. I just don't see him coming out ahead in the general election this time around.

[SKKY]

37. Would you agree that Mayor Pete, if he wins the Democratic nomination,...

...would be an excellent candidate who would run a 50 state campaign focused on blue-collar, dinner table issues?

[TeamPooka]

46. I have no idea what kind of campaign he would run but I would vote for him if he

were the nominee, regardless.

[SKKY]

48. Well, I would suggest that Mayor Pete would indeed run a better campaign than HRC...

....and if he does that, he only has to improve by 77, 740 votes. In fact, I think pretty much any of the 65,535 declared candidates would run a better campaign than HRC did. Hence, my optimism about our chances in 2020.

[HardLineDem]

35. That's the Asshole-in-Chief to you, pal!

'Nuff said.

[TeamPooka]

40. There will be a Democratic President running for re-election in 2024. That's one of the reasons

why so many are running this time.
Trump is weak.
They know it.
His own polling just told him and he refused to believe it.
Trump's going to need more than Russia's help this time because we will GOTV huge, and beat him by 6 million votes and take the Electoral College by a bigly number.

There's an 8 year career block on any ambitious Democratic politician who loses the nomination in 2020.
The door will not be open again, hopefully, until 2028.

and that's why there are 23 candidates right now.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

44. I think your points are right on target. I hadn't seen it that way, but now I do. Thank you! n/t

[VarryOn]

49. He's in my top 5...

He's probably the candidate I most enjoy listening too in a sit down interview when he's got plenty of time to elucidate his beliefs. He comes across as quite thoughtful, and he's definitely got an intellectual streak.

I do wish he was a little older, but not because it matters to me on personal level. I just think in a general election, his age could be an issue.

No doubt, he's got an outstanding resume. Before I can make him my pick, I want to see how he debates, handles his opponents, explains his positions, and whether he's skilled at going on offense.