Mr. Buttigieg campaigned in 27 of the 31 Iowa counties that backed Mr. Obama in 2012 before swinging to President Trump in 2016, many of them along the Mississippi River. With a message of bridging divisions in the party and the country, he drew the largest crowds of any candidate in 20 Obama-Trump counties, according to his campaign. “We needed a new path forward, a path that welcomed people instead of pushing them away, brought them together instead of driving them apart, because this is our best and maybe our last shot,” Mr. Buttigieg told supporters at his caucus night party on Monday in Des Moines. With the lackluster showing in Iowa by Mr. Biden — the candidate with the most support from black voters in national polls — the race has grown increasingly unpredictable. Along the way, he became the only one of more than two dozen candidates in his party’s 2020 primary to vault from near anonymity into the race’s top tier.

Source: New York Times February 07, 2020 17:05 UTC