Pete Buttigieg 2020 campaign megathread

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Homophobia doesn't explain why Buttigieg had only 0% of blacks in his home state in a poll.

[Gracile]

Without even bringing up the gay card, there are plenty of reasons why he has failed to secure much support from African-Americans so far. I don't think they'll affect him much, if any, in the general election, but they may keep him from getting the nomination.

If he does get the nomination, could he excite enough of them to win the "Big Three" that Hillary lost in 2016?  I'm not even going to delve into the matter of expanding the map into AA-rich states like NC, GA, and FL.

Probably not. I think he would face similar issues to Clinton with regards to African-American turnout in places like Detroit, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee.

[Brittain33]

I really don’t want to think what the Russian bots would do with a Buttigieg candidacy. They won’t have any trouble pretending to be homophobic.

[Tender Branson]

I really don’t want to think what the Russian bots would do with a Buttigieg candidacy. They won’t have any trouble pretending to be homophobic.

"Russian bots" are so 2016 ...

Nobody will give a damn about it next year (Facebook usage is going down as well) and for every voter who complains about his gayness, he will likely get 2 additional ones from the non-voter pool.

[Vern]

It is to note that the AA vote didn't embrace Obama until after he won IA. IIRC

Go look at the polls in SC primary three months before they voted and Clinton is way ahead.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I really don’t want to think what the Russian bots would do with a Buttigieg candidacy. They won’t have any trouble pretending to be homophobic.

"Russian bots" are so 2016 ...

Nobody will give a damn about it next year (Facebook usage is going down as well) and for every voter who complains about his gayness, he will likely get 2 additional ones from the non-voter pool.

My thought is more that anyone who would have eir vote affected by whether a candidate is gay is more than likely not to vote Democratic anyway.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Those who think his lack of black support can be explained by homophobia: how much support do you think he would have otherwise?

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

I really don’t want to think what the Russian bots would do with a Buttigieg candidacy. They won’t have any trouble pretending to be homophobic.

"Russian bots" are so 2016 ...

Nobody will give a damn about it next year (Facebook usage is going down as well) and for every voter who complains about his gayness, he will likely get 2 additional ones from the non-voter pool.

My thought is more that anyone who would have eir vote affected by whether a candidate is gay is more than likely not to vote Democratic anyway.

There are lots of Democrats that could care less as to whether or not Buttigieg is straight or gay that would not vote for him because of concern as to how that would ultimately shake out in the end.  I would suspect that this would be a concern for some gay voters as well.

[cvparty]

Those who think his lack of black support can be explained by homophobia: how much support do you think he would have otherwise?

i feel like his main problem with minorities is name recognition rather than something like being gay. so honestly his support would probably only be like 1 or 2 points higher if the whole homophobia issue weren’t at play

[free my dawg]

- I suppose a better way to say it might be that Buttigieg’s openness about it probably has hurt him with AA voters (especially older ones), but isn’t the only reason he struggles with them.

- I thought it was 40, but either way, fair.  I don’t think it’s findings should simply be dismissed out of hand though.

That's fair enough. However, I see the primary reason he's "struggling" with black support is that his flip-flopping turned off younger black voters and most older black voters are already voting for Biden anyway. I don't see a path unless Biden drops out.

- This is a fair point, although I do think Buttigieg has tried to reach out.  The optics over his handling of that shooting (especially the fact that Buttigieg responded with nuance instead of first sympathizing with people’s emotional pain and letting them feel heard - sometimes people need to know you get where they’re coming from before you get into the nuance and legal complexities) may have poisoned the well so much that Buttigieg’s subsequent outreach efforts were DOA.

- I disagree on Boykins.  He’s charged with enforcing the law and I shudder to think what the world would look like if cops could break the law whenever they felt it was justified (we have too much of that already).  Boykins should’ve known better than most that what he did was wrong and while he may have had good intentions, his conduct absolutely warranted his firing imo.

We can debate about the merits of Boykins' wiretapping all we want. We can derail this thread all we want discussing the merits of the wiretapping or whether there was a double standard or why these people were justified. As I said, it becomes a question of "do the ends justify the means", and it's obvious that the black community in South Bend believes they do.

That being said, the Boykins incident coupled with the various police abuses under Buttigieg's watch leads to a pattern. The incident in a vacuum would be a point of debate. Couple that with his machine supporting one of the racist officers Boykins investigated in his run for county sheriff (and said officer's general closeness to Buttigieg's inner circle) and it sheds a different light on the situation. There are a lot of red flags that can't be ignored.

This is a fair point.  Andrew Knepper seems like a vile human being and the fact he was on the force for so long is...troubling at best.  I gotta admit, upon further review Buttigieg seems to have a much worse record on police issues than I realized.  I’m sure that’s also a factor in his lack of support from AA voters (at least those at all familiar with his record as mayor).  Thanks for bringing this to my attention.

Any time. I'm glad I could convince you.

Again, it's also very interesting that Kamala got infinitely more scrutiny for her record as a prosecutor, but Buttigieg's record on criminal justice issues (which is honestly indistinguishable from a Republican's) got a day's worth of coverage.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

- I mean, despite Buttigieg having a worse record on criminal justice issues than I’d thought, I really don’t think it’s fair to say his record is indistinguishable from a Republicans’.  It’s not like he’s completely indifferent and I think he’s still gotten more than his share of undeserved flak on this sort of stuff.  I don’t think there’s a consistent pattern, so much as I’d say that he’s made a few mistakes in this area.  That said, I can understand why folks might be uneasy.  I mean, I can’t really say I blame African-Americans for never giving a white politician the benefit of the doubt on this stuff given that they’re still getting murdered with impunity by folks who are supposed to be protecting them.

I still think that overall he’d probably be the best President of anyone currently running despite the fact that his criminal justice record definitely leaves something to be desired.  Bullock would be second best, but since he doesn’t have a shot, whether I vote for Warren or Buttigieg will come down to whether the latter can 1) win Iowa, 2) score at least a strong top three finish in NH, and 3) is still a serious candidate by the time Ohio rolls around.  Weirdly, I get the sense that I’m far from the only Buttigieg supporter who would likely back Warren were he not in the race.  But I digress...

- With Harris, I think it was that she initially tried running on her prosecutorial experience while simultaneously running away from her prosecutorial record.  Voters called BS and rightly so.  Her big problem though is that she was a Romney-level weather vane.  Also, IIRC Buttigieg’s campaign almost got sunk by the shooting, but he really hit his answer about the issue out of the park in the first debate and that kinda ended the week of bad coverage.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Buttigieg will have problems in SC.  Harris ran on being Hilary Clinton lite. She ran on comprehensive immigration reform, being from an Indian mom. But, she did no outreach to black communities. She went on the View, but ran away from Oprah Winfrey; instead, went on Jimmy Kimmel. She ran away from her black roots. Michelle Obama was Barack Obama's saving grace. She embraced her AA roots

[Saint Milei]

- I mean, despite Buttigieg having a worse record on criminal justice issues than I’d thought, I really don’t think it’s fair to say his record is indistinguishable from a Republicans’.  It’s not like he’s completely indifferent and I think he’s still gotten more than his share of undeserved flak on this sort of stuff.  I don’t think there’s a consistent pattern, so much as I’d say that he’s made a few mistakes in this area.  That said, I can understand why folks might be uneasy.  I mean, I can’t really say I blame African-Americans for never giving a white politician the benefit of the doubt on this stuff given that they’re still getting murdered with impunity by folks who are supposed to be protecting them.

I still think that overall he’d probably be the best President of anyone currently running despite the fact that his criminal justice record definitely leaves something to be desired.  Bullock would be second best, but since he doesn’t have a shot, whether I vote for Warren or Buttigieg will come down to whether the latter can 1) win Iowa, 2) score at least a strong top three finish in NH, and 3) is still a serious candidate by the time Ohio rolls around.  Weirdly, I get the sense that I’m far from the only Buttigieg supporter who would likely back Warren were he not in the race.  But I digress...

- With Harris, I think it was that she initially tried running on her prosecutorial experience while simultaneously running away from her prosecutorial record.  Voters called BS and rightly so.  Her big problem though is that she was a Romney-level weather vane.  Also, IIRC Buttigieg’s campaign almost got sunk by the shooting, but he really hit his answer about the issue out of the park in the first debate and that kinda ended the week of bad coverage.

Then he should be polling better with blacks. He isn't. Trump does better lmao

[free my dawg]

https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/1193842562731302912?s=19

>female VA director, made in NH
>a certain prominent female, buttigieg-leaning veteran Democrat is about 30 minutes south from where said speech was made

It's like he's intentionally trying to trigger me hahahaha

(But seriously, even if he did pick her I'd trust her with improving the VA - she's solid on the more important issues)

[libertpaulian]

https://twitter.com/AP_Politics/status/1193842562731302912?s=19

>female VA director, made in NH
>a certain prominent female, buttigieg-leaning veteran Democrat is about 30 minutes south from where said speech was made

It's like he's intentionally trying to trigger me hahahaha

(But seriously, even if he did pick her I'd trust her with improving the VA - she's solid on the more important issues)

I probably know who this is, but my mind is drawing a blank...

[Grassroots]

As of today it looks like Pete is actually now leading the fray in Iowa, which is absolutely remarkable.



I can totally see Pete winning Iowa. But from there the situation for him is noticeably tricky. What are his chances in any given primary after Iowa? What other early primary states does he have a chance in? What super tuesday states does he have a chance in?

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

If he wins Iowa, then he’s got as good a shot as anyone at New Hampshire.  If he wins both, who knows what could happen...

[History505]

He's rising in the IA and NH polls, and gaining attention in the news again. Will it be a everyone attack Buttigieg or will Warren/Sanders continue to be questioned?

[libertpaulian]

If the next batch of polls confirm the #Buttimentum, he'll definitely be a top target.  I could see Warren and Sanders going after him on economic issues and healthcare, Harris on racial issues, and Biden on experience.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

If he wins Iowa, then he’s got as good a shot as anyone at New Hampshire.  If he wins both, who knows what could happen...

He could very well get good momentum in NV. But I think he needs to go all in on SC and try to get some gains with black voters. He has a great plan on racial injustice that he should advertise nonstop leading up to the primary.

[Arizona Iced Tea]

I think the progressive focus is still on Biden who is still the clear frontrunner. Biden keeps getting hit a lot, but his polling seems to be very stable, so the progressives are still going to be chasing him more and try to gain momentum.
As for Mayor Pete, I think Amy Klobuchar might attempt to confront him, as she has been saying things like he does not have much experience, and the moderators might bring that up.

But to answer your question, I don't think Buttigieg will be the center of attack as most will still go for Biden.

[Grassroots]

As of today it looks like Pete is actually now leading the fray in Iowa, which is absolutely remarkable.



I can totally see Pete winning Iowa. But from there the situation for him is noticeably tricky. What are his chances in any given primary after Iowa? What other early primary states does he have a chance in? What super tuesday states does he have a chance in?

This wasn't supposed to be moved. Can you mods stop?

[YE]

As of today it looks like Pete is actually now leading the fray in Iowa, which is absolutely remarkable.



I can totally see Pete winning Iowa. But from there the situation for him is noticeably tricky. What are his chances in any given primary after Iowa? What other early primary states does he have a chance in? What super tuesday states does he have a chance in?

This wasn't supposed to be moved. Can you mods stop?

I can re-split it off if I feel it's necessary but for now, there's too many topics created on this board IMO (granted, I just made another thread on how to help resolve that).

[Rookie Yinzer]

He's rising in the IA and NH polls, and gaining attention in the news again. Will it be a everyone attack Buttigieg or will Warren/Sanders continue to be questioned?

Both will occur.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

He's rising in the IA and NH polls, and gaining attention in the news again. Will it be a everyone attack Buttigieg or will Warren/Sanders continue to be questioned?

Both will occur.

I agree. There’s too much drama^TM to be mined from pitting low-polling Moderate Heroes like Klobuchar against the lefty front-runners. But I wouldn’t be surprised if near the entire stage hits Pete on his flip-flopping and thin experience.

He really pissed a lot of them off with his comments on it being a Buttigieg-Warren race. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being the Romney 2008 analogue, who the rest of the field unanimously dislikes.