Pete Buttigieg (38) has surged towards the top of the pack ahead of New Hampshire's Democratic primary on Tuesday. He's drawing more attention from voters - and more attacks from presidential rivals who view this newcomer to national politics as a serious threat.

There's an old saying about the way the two parties pick their presidential nominees - Democrats fall in love; Republicans fall in line.

After a 2016 election that turned conventional wisdom on its head by producing iconoclastic Donald Trump and establishment-favourite Hillary Clinton as the nominees, that nostrum could be reasserting itself. While the Republican Party is closing ranks behind the president, there's nothing logical or expected about the early success Pete Buttigieg is having in the Democratic fight to take on Trump in November.

He's the former mayor of a modest-sized Indiana city, the 306th-largest in the US - a college town like Oxford in the UK, only smaller.

He's 38 years old, which would make him the youngest president in US history.

He's also the first openly gay major-party presidential candidate, a historic candidacy that would have seemed inconceivable just a few decades ago, when Republicans were campaigning - and winning - on opposition to gay marriage and mainstream Democrats, by and large, avoided the issue.

Yet here he is, the narrow victor of the Iowa caucuses and near the top of the top of the polls in New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Tuesday.

In 2019, Buttigieg raised more than $76m in donations for his presidential campaign - an astronomical number for a man who was a political unknown at the start of the year and who still struggles to get his name pronounced correctly (it's boot-edge-edge).

At a campaign rally in Keene, New Hampshire, on Saturday, actor Michael J Fox riffed on the candidate's unorthodox political background, describing him as a "left-handed, Maltese-American, Episcopalian, millennial, gay war veteran".

The crowd in a packed college auditorium erupted in laughter. They roared for Buttigieg, as he strode out onto the stage in his now-trademark jacket-less dress shirt and tie, abandoning the lectern to pace the stage with a wireless microphone.

"I absolutely love his energy," said Susan Szyldo, a registered nurse from nearby Dublin. "I love his youthfulness. I just think it would be a whole new fresh perspective in Washington, which we need desperately."

Husbands Scott Hadland and Jason Bassi from Massachusetts stood near the front of the crowd with their son, Jeremy.

"We're really excited to see the first presidential candidate who identifies as gay," Hadland said. "It really means a lot to us to be able to see him in person."

Shane O'Keefe, a town administrator from Walpole attending his third Buttigieg rally, was equally effusive.

"He's tells it like it is," he said. "He's a very thoughtful person. He's a very knowledgeable and knows the issues that affect people like myself and others."

Listen to Buttigieg supporters, and this is kind of praise that regularly comes up. He's smart. He talks in full paragraphs, not soundbites. He is calm and composed. They say he's a refreshing change from the current occupant of the White House - and even his competitors for the Democratic nomination.

"I watched the debate the other night, and I respect the other candidates, but they're all yelling at me," Fox said of Friday's Democratic face-off in Manchester. "But Pete isn't screaming. He's talking to me. He's the one guy who's quiet and making his point."

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-51419301

Admire his military courage but he is gay. He can't have kids. and America is not ready for a gay president.

panafrican:

Admire his military courage but he is gay. He can't have kids. and America is not ready for a gay president.

And what does having kids have to do with leading a country?
And moreover it's 2020, even straight people who are barren knows there are lots of ways to have children

Palehair:

And what does having kids have to do with leading a country?
And moreover it's 2020, even straight people who are barren knows there are lots of ways to have children

You need people to form an army that will defend the land, you need a population to run the country's daily business.

As a parent how do you give a butt*** name to your kid..
In preparation.
Note this guy is married to a man. Dont know who is the he she in that relationship.
Liberals trying to mainstream homosexuality and even elect one as the president.
Gaslighting.

panafrican:

You need people to form an army that will defend the land, you need a population to run the country's daily business.

And I said that there are lots of ways to have kids now without the traditional way even straight people are doing it

Palehair:

And I said that there are lots of ways to have kids now without the traditional way even straight people are doing it

Yeah, reason why the Catholic Church and many conservatives in America were smart enough for having foreseen what you guys were up to with your In-vitro fertilization (IVF) technology and other questionable ramification of stem cell research . Rejected.

He is a cultural Marxist just like his Dad.

Lolz..gayman

panafrican:

Yeah, reason why the Catholic Church and many conservatives in America were smart enough for having foreseen what you guys were up to with your In-vitro fertilization (IVF) technology and other questionable ramification of stem cell research . Rejected.

Who's talking about IVF? What about adoption? There are children who needs love

Palehair:

Who's talking about IVF? What about adoption? There are children who needs love

This is one of the reasons why Trump got elected after Obama turned the world upside down with that type of reasoning
Questions:
1.Do you want your child to be raised by a gay couple?
2. If someone engages in a marriage that they know will not make them have kids why should they be allowed to raise other people's children?

The only thing this Buti-something is dreaming about is actually not the US presidency, it is that devilish big kiss he would give to his gay partner in front of the world live on TV with more than 200 million viewers all over the world, the day of the presidential inauguration, if he ever got elected.
This kiss will be a roll call to all gay people all over the world.
BTW , is he the wife or the husband of his partner ? Disgusting.

White devil.

panafrican:

This is one of the reasons why Trump got elected after Obama turned the world upside down with that type of reasoning
Questions:
1.Do you want your child to be raised by a gay couple?
2. If someone engages in a marriage that they know will not make them have kids why should they be allowed to raise other people's children?

The only thing this Buti-something is dreaming about is actually not the US presidency, it is that devilish big kiss he would give to his gay partner in front of the world live on TV with more than 200 million viewers all over the world, the day of the presidential inauguration, if he ever got elected.
This kiss will be a roll call to all gay people all over the world.
BTW , is he the wife or the husband of his partner ? Disgusting.

This here is why you will remain a useless nobody.

DictatorZAR1:


This here is why you will remain a useless nobody.

The curse is on you , and you failed .
The devil does not determine our destiny and we will not be received by it's treacherous tactics.
Go back to hell.

panafrican:

The curse is on you , and you failed .
The devil does not determine our destiny and we will not be received by it's treacherous tactics.
Go back to hell.

You will be a nobody because you think a gay couple should not raise children according to this progressive who wants to overturn all moral ideals.

Typical leftist habit. Throw insults when they lose the gist of the argument.

panafrican:

This is one of the reasons why Trump got elected after Obama turned the world upside down with that type of reasoning
Questions:
1.Do you want your child to be raised by a gay couple?
2. If someone engages in a marriage that they know will not make them have kids why should they be allowed to raise other people's children?

The only thing this Buti-something is dreaming about is actually not the US presidency, it is that devilish big kiss he would give to his gay partner in front of the world live on TV with more than 200 million viewers all over the world, the day of the presidential inauguration, if he ever got elected.
This kiss will be a roll call to all gay people all over the world.
BTW , is he the wife or the husband of his partner ? Disgusting.

First and foremost, Pete won't win, it's completely obvious and in same sex relationship, they are both husbands so the correct term is "his husband". Would you rather see a kid left alone in an orphanage than for him to be with two loving parents? It doesn't matter the gender or sexuality of the parents, as long as they can give the kids the love they want, then who cares. Besides, since the straight people who had them dumped them and saw no use in them, most gave them up to allow them to have the best chance, to be picked up by loving families, neglecting the gender and i've seen kids raised by gay couples who turned out better and straight than the ones raised by straight couples

P. S: if you think trump is homophobic, then you are shielded by his contempt, he has put lots of gay republicans in power than Obama did with the gay democrats. Research gay billionaire Peter Thiel, the first investor of Facebook and the founder of PayPal, and also the "gays for trump" army and the term "log cabin republicans"