Buttigieg splashed into national politics by running for Democratic National Committee chair in 2017. He got a lot of good press then, but quit the race just before voting began. Most assume he probably would have gotten about five votes. Observers have been wondering whether this presidential run will end the same way—with all sorts of people saying how interesting and appealing Buttigieg is, even as they explain in the same breath that they’ll be voting for one of the other candidates with a better operation and a little more seasoning. That’s the question that’s looming now: Of course he can draw a crowd at a hipster bar or an art museum or a bookstore. Let’s see him actually turn out voters, the skeptics say, who aren’t white or wannabe intellectuals.
That, for example, is the assumed counterpoint to Beto O’Rourke, who right now seems to be Buttigieg’s competition for the lane of “interesting young white guy.” O’Rourke raised $9.2 million in the first quarter; Buttigieg raised $7 million. They both have Ivy League degrees; both are inspiring other young people.
O’Rourke is still driving himself around on his early state road trips and leaning more on feelings of uplift than specifics. He has also started to hire experienced operatives, including one of the most in-demand campaign managers in the country and one of the top veterans of Iowa campaigns to run his caucus plans. O’Rourke’s single new big, bold idea: promising to sign an executive order that would require his Cabinet secretaries to have a town-hall meeting every month.
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