Buttigieg tries to recapture Iowa magic

[brooklynite]

Politico

Pete Buttigieg is not touching the he-said-she-said between two of his chief primary rivals. In fact, he’s going to great lengths not to talk about any opponents at all, after spending the fall drawing contrasts with them.

Instead, Buttigieg, who has dropped 5 to 7 points in the polling averages here in a few months, is trying to regain the first-place position he once held in Iowa, closing out on a message of party unity. He’s staying outside of the conversation dominating cable news, campaigning miles away from the impeachment proceedings that called his opponents in the Senate away to jury duty.

In a five-day, marathon sprint across Iowa, including a brief break for Tuesday night’s debate in Des Moines, the former South Bend, Ind., mayor bounded into middle school gyms and VFW halls to make his case to “a lot of voters who are still in decision mode” who “still could vote for any number of candidates,” Buttigieg told reporters.

But where sharp attacks aided him in the fall — including tense exchanges with Sen. Elizabeth Warren over health care, accusing her of refusing to give a yes-or-no answer on costs in October — Buttigieg is instead leaning into where Democrats agree. When asked about his health care proposal by a voter in Arnold’s Park, Iowa, Buttigieg avoided direct contrast with his opponents altogether, simply promoting his own plan’s “optionality.”

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. His actions make sense. And they remind me of an old quote:

When you see your rivals tearing each other up, stand back and let them! Or words to that effect.

[Firebrand Gary]

2. I am so happy to support Pete.