David Axelrod seems to think Pete Buttigieg is Obama reincarnate


Forget Beto O'Rourke. Former President Barack Obama's closest allies seem to be scoping out a new starry-eyed longshot.
Pete Buttigieg jumped into the 2020 race as the unmistakable underdog — he's the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, also known as that city near Notre Dame. Yet somehow, he pulled together more fundraising dollars in the first quarter than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), matched Sen. Cory Booker's (D-N.J.) rally numbers in the pouring rain, and even gotten the Obama campaign's chief strategist David Axelrod on his side, Olivia Nuzzi writes in a new profile for New York Magazine.
With his political experience limited to leading a city of 100,000 people, Buttigieg told Nuzzi that "candidly, I don't even know all the reasons why this is going so well." But he does have a few explanations for his success, namely the massive 2020 field he's starting to trounce. "I think the thing about having so many of us in the field is that ... you're not competing against any individual," Buttigieg explained. Buttigieg gets to just stand out and prove how he is "simply not like any of the others," he continued.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Axelrod seems to agree. To win in 2020, he thinks a Democrat has to "build a bridge" to President Trump voters who just need a little leftward push. "Buttigieg is uniquely able — and willing — to do this," Nuzzi explains via Axelrod's reasoning, "because such voters helped get him reelected" even when Vice President Mike Pence was the governor of Indiana. Eric Lesser, who worked for Obama and Axelrod, piled onto that thought, saying that like Obama, Buttigieg is "deeply thoughtful and intellectual" yet still "relatable."
Read more at New York Magazine.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
What led to Poland invoking NATO’s Article 4 and where could it lead?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION After a Russian drone blitz, Warsaw’s rare move to invoke the important NATO statute has potentially moved Europe closer to continent-wide warfare
-
Africa could become the next frontier for space programs
The Explainer China and the US are both working on space applications for Africa
-
Video games to curl up with this fall, including Ghost of Yotei and LEGO Party
The Week Recommends Several highly anticipated video games are coming this fall
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to Trump
Speed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raids
Speed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raid
Speed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'
Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearing
Speed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mount
Speed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own list
speed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battle
Speed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants