I signed a caucus pledge for Pete Buttigieg the first time one was offered, hardly surprising when you consider my sexual orientation and all of that. But there's more involved.
Only four candidates in a big field have managed to get their campaigns off the ground --- Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and "Mayor Pete." Biden and Sanders are too old, in my opinion. Sorry, Joe, but your recent ad --- "I'm experienced, steady and ready to step in" --- didn't resonate. Sanders just had a heart attack, for heaven's sake.
Love Warren, but Buttigieg is a more effective campaigner who pulled himself out of relative obscurity and up by his own bootstraps in quick time.
So it was interesting to see this morning that Buttigieg has "rocketed" to the top of the field in Iowa, according to the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll. The South Bend mayor pulled down 25 percent support among likely Democratic caucus-goers (up from 9 percent in September); Warren, 16 percent; and Biden and Sanders, 15 percent each.
Some say Warren and Sanders are "too liberal"; others suggest that Buttigieg is not liberal enough. Nonsense. All bring similar progressive agendas into the campaign with them.
Can a gay guy with a husband and two dogs get himself elected? Probably.
But of course I'll vote gladly for whoever the Democrat nominee turns out to be.
I've been thinking of a couple of statements by the late Harvey Milk, generally acknowledged to have been the first honest LGBTQ person to win elective office:
"If you help elect more gay people, that gives a green light to all who feel disenfranchised, a green light to move forward. It means hope to a nation that has given up, because if a gay person makes it, the doors are open to everyone."
And: "A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope."
I wish that there had been role models like Mr. Buttigieg when I was growing up.
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