Buttigieg: Biden Earned the Nomination

“Getting into this race was never just about becoming president. For us it was about working to unify the country and making sure we defeat Donald Trump and there came a point where I realized the best thing I could do in the service of those goals was to step aside and to support Vice President Biden.”

— Pete Buttigieg told NBC News that “by the time we had ran our fourth race it was clear the numbers weren’t there.”

The Surest Way for Us to Lose is to Vote Based on Who We Think Can Win

Photo by Wyron A on Unsplash

Update: In light of the 60 Minutes interview with Bloomberg and the announcement by Buttigieg that he is dropping out, I’m switching my vote to Bloomberg.

“At a certain point, we have to stop backing away from Trump and turn around and start walking toward the America that we want to create. That’s the problem when the only political goal is defeating Donald Trump. All you’re doing is fighting a vendetta, you will literally accept any kind of foul evil as long as it’s not the specific evil that you’re fighting…

“People say, ‘Well HE can defeat him. THIS is the guy that can defeat him, or no, Biden can defeat him, or a moderate can defeat him, or a leftist can defeat him…’ Nobody knows who can take it so you might as well vote for the America you want to see, not the America you’re afraid to let go of.” — Moshe Kasher, comedian and writer

I live in a state that doesn’t vote until two weeks after Super Tuesday. A lot of tea leaves will have been read by the time I vote. The conventional wisdom will be set in stone and my state’s decision will be an afterthought.

And I am still going to vote for who I’m going to vote for. Pete Buttigieg has impressed me from the beginning. None of the other candidates feel right to me. I’m voting for Pete no matter what I’m being told by St. Patrick’s Day about who can win. I’m voting for Pete because he’s who I want to see in the White House in January.

The truth is that nobody knows who can or will defeat Trump. The truth is that most voters are not pundits. The truth is that by trying to be pundits, by voting based purely on who you think everyone else will vote for, you end up with a candidate that most don’t hate but no one loves. How did that work for us in 2016, 2004, and 1988?* […]

Buttigieg’s Previous Vote Support Eclipses Biden’s

You know what bothers me about the Biden electability argument? Numbers.

The last time Biden was on a ballot by himself was his 2008 Senate re-election campaign. Biden was running in Delaware, the country’s 46th state in population, against Christine O’Donnell. You remember Christine O’Donnell:

Biden triumphed over O’Donnell with 65 percent of the vote. You could not be blamed for wondering, what with people’s witch lineage in question, why that percentage wasn’t even higher. He was an entrenched incumbent running for his sixth term and 35 percent of Delawarians voted against Biden in favor of someone who paid for an ad to tell them she wasn’t a witch but was in fact them.*

[…]

The S.O.B from South Bend

“Maybe it’s his calculated manner, or the way he waves at a crowd like an animatronic member of the British royal family, or his Midwestern aw-shucks niceness. But more than a year into his presidential campaign, despite all the attention paid to his candidacy, people still miss how aggressive Buttigieg is. … That’s what the victory-without-a-victory speech he gave last night was about.”

The Atlantic

Iowa to be a Nail-Biter

19%

A new Focus on Rural America poll in Iowa finds Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic presidential race with 19%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 17%, Elizabeth Warren at 15%, Joe Biden at 15% and Amy Klobuchar at 11%. “Our biggest takeaway… The top four candidates are in a virtual dead heat, and Klobuchar isn’t that far off. That means precinct by precinct delegate counts and realignments are going to make this a nail-biter to the very end.”

Millionaires Prefer Biden, Buttigeig Over Trump

48% to 41%

A new CNBC poll of millionaires finds Joe Biden beats President Trump in a general election match up, 48% to 41%. Biden would even get 18% of Republican millionaire votes in a Trump-Biden match-up. The only other Democratic candidate who beats Trump among millionaires is Pete Buttigieg, who edges past Trump 46% to 43%. Trump easily beats both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren among millionaires.

Buttigieg’s Record Doesn’t Match His Plan

3%

The Intercept: “One of the main tenets of Pete Buttigieg’s plan to address racial inequality if he becomes president is a proposal to increase the number of federal contracting dollars going to women- and minority-owned businesses to 25 percent. But in South Bend, Indiana, where he has been mayor since 2012, less than 3 percent of city business has gone to minority- and women-owned businesses in recent years, according to annual audits conducted by the city.”

Buttigeig Butts Ahead in Iowa

22%

A new Monmouth poll in Iowa finds Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic field with 22%, followed by Joe Biden at 19%, Elizabeth Warren at 18% and Bernie Sanders at 13%. They are followed by Amy Klobuchar at 5%, Kamala Harris at 3%, Tom Steyer at 3%, Andrew Yang at 3%, Cory Booker at 2%, and Tulsi Gabbard at 2%. However, just 28% of likely caucusgoers are firmly decided on their candidate choice.