The 37-year-old mayor from Indiana has his vulnerabilities, but has become a contender for the presidency in just a few months
On a November evening a dozen years ago, Barack Obama – who at the time was the 46-year-old junior senator from Illinois – appeared at the annual fundraising dinner-rally of the Iowa Democratic party, at which all of the 2008 Democratic presidential contestants were given about 10 minutes to speak. Obama came in as underdog to the frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, but delivered such a barn-burning stemwinder of a speech that he left as the favorite. A little more than three months later, he won the Iowa caucuses – the first major contest on the US presidential campaign calendar – and the rest is history.
None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls who spoke at last week’s Iowa Democratic party Liberty and Justice Celebration pulled off an Obama-level breakout performance. But the one who came closest was Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg hewed closely to the Obama playbook in making a case for his candidacy, and his Iowa speech seems likely to boost him in the polls at just the moment when the other leading candidates are showing some worrisome weaknesses.
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