Before, Pete Buttigieg drew polite interest from Iowans. Now, he has masses of fans.
Barbara Rodriguez, Des Moines Register Published 9:50 p.m. CT April 16, 2019
Pete Buttigieg looked out into the Iowa crowd, which stretched several rows deep.
“What a meet-and-greet,” he said to laughter from the Des Moines audience of more than 1,000.
When Buttigieg told Iowans in early February that he wanted to be president, the Democrat faced a group of about two dozen at an Ames coffee shop. Half appeared to really be there for the coffee; a bean-grinding machine drowned out parts of his remarks.
Two months later, word of Buttigieg’s return brought a different kind of crowd outside a Des Moines junior high school.
The town hall event, originally scheduled to be indoors, was moved outside to accommodate the masses.
It’s a testament to Buttigieg’s rapid rise in popularity after a slate of national press events, starting with a breakout CNN town hall appearance in March. Since then, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has ranked near the top of polls and even outraised some better known Democratic 2020 hopefuls.
It meant Buttigieg had a new status as he made his way around the first-in-the-nation caucus state during the first day of a two-day swing Tuesday: a top-tier presidential contender.
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http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2019/04/16/election-2020-pete-buttigieg-iowa-caucus-protest-president-democrat/3492056002/
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