Pete Buttigieg

He has a name that is difficult to spell and difficult to pronounce. He is 37 years old. His highest elected office is the mayor of a mid-size city. He is gay.

Those are the strikes against Pete Buttigieg (boot-edge-edge), who appears to be running for president. He has not announced officially, forming instead the mysterious "exploratory committee" (do those committees have more than one member?) and campaigning and appearing on CNN town halls. It's been his turn in the spotlight, and he has collected the cash necessary to appear in the debates.

I would say he stood a snowball's chance in Hell except I thought the same thing of Barack Obama 11 years ago, and he defied my expectations. Is it possible for a gay man to be elected president now?

Buttigieg is a die-hard liberal, and though he has been a mayor to South Bend, Indiana for seven years, I think he figures the only place to go is president, as it seems unlikely in a red state like Indiana to get elected senator or governor. He does have experience in other forms of government, working for Secretary of Defense William Cohen. He also is a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve, and was deployed in Afghanistan.

All in all, he is a very attractive candidate, and I think he could sway some voters who never thought they'd vote for a gay man for president. Certainly most liberals would have no problem with that on its face, but would there be any who would want to deny him the nomination because they might think he could not win a national election? Some may think that way, but as I said, I thought the same thing about Obama, and went into the 2008 election foolishly supporting John Edwards, who went into one of the most spectacular tailspins in political history.

I have not decided who I support in this election, other than that whomever the Democratic nominee is will have one-hundred percent of me. I'm working on the day of the Nevada caucus, so I won't even get to vote (caucuses are kind of evil, based on my experience). So my support doesn't exactly mean anything. But I will certainly listen to Pete Buttigieg.