The Democrats have a new 'it' boy - but what are his chances?
Tuesday 16 April 2019 06:54, UK
By Hannah Thomas-Peter, US correspondent
I never thought I would write this, but there's an "it" boy in the Democratic presidential race.
His name is Pete Buttigieg.
No-one can pronounce his last name - it's BOOT-EDGE-EDGE - so everyone calls him Mayor Pete.
Suddenly, he's everywhere - out-raising some of his better known rivals, and generating more viral moments in the early stages of his run than most candidates could hope to in their entire campaigns.
So, who is he?
If, and it's a big if, he wins the nomination, he could be a walking, talking nightmare for Republicans come 2020.
That might not immediately be obvious when you look at some of his credentials.
At 37 he is a millennial - just.
He is also the son of an immigrant, gay, Ivy League educated, and speaks seven languages other than English: Norwegian, Spanish, Italian, Maltese, Arabic, Dari, and French.
He is also an accomplished pianist.
Video exists of him easily playing alongside musician Ben Folds at a concert.
Take that, Beto O'Rourke.
And yet. Buttigieg is also the popular mayor of South Bend in Indiana, smack in the middle of the American heartland and home state of Vice President Mike Pence.
He is a devout Christian, memorably addressing Mr Pence's views on homosexuality with the remark: "My marriage has made me a better man, and yes, Mr Vice President, it has moved me closer to God.
"If you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me.
"Your quarrel, sir, is with my creator."
Buttigieg is using his faith to challenge the moral authority of Republicans who have stayed silent in the face of Donald Trump's various transgressions, as Democrats see them.
And he is also a veteran - a former naval intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve who served in Afghanistan.
There are few things in American life more sacred than faith and military service.
Democrats know this.
In the 2018 midterms the party road-tested a number of young candidates with national security backgrounds, like Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, and they did very well.
With a well suited candidate in 2020, the Democrats may well seek to recast patriotism as a closely held value of the left.
I think this approach might be one of their best chances of victory in the handful of states that went Donald Trump's way by less than 2% in 2016.
In these battlegrounds, Buttigieg's double whammy identity could represent a real problem for Republicans hoping to freeze out Democrats as simply out-of-touch global elites.
In these battlegrounds, Buttigieg's double whammy identity could represent a real problem for Republicans hoping to freeze out Democrats as simply out-of-touch global elites.
I expect the Republican National Committee is already thinking hard about how it might oppose Buttigieg without coming across as homophobic or disrespectful to his service.
They will be searching for a chink in his armour.
But for the moment, Mayor Pete continues to ride roughshod over the accepted theory that a successful candidate occupies a 'lane' closely tied to their personal values and character.
Buttigieg doesn't have a lane.
Doesn't even appear to need one.
In fact he seems to enjoy meandering across them with apparent ease.
The last candidate who so effortlessly disregarded conventional wisdom is sitting in the Oval Office.
So is Buttigieg, as one commentator asked, a star or a comet?
Is this just a moment, or is it his time?
We'll find out soon enough.
2020 will be here before we know it.
Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning.
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