Buttigieg campaign lightens expectations for Super Tuesday, but suggests they're in it for the long haul
Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's campaign manager Mike Schmuhl wants to be realistic about Super Tuesday.
In a memo sent Tuesday, Schmuhl said the goal for next week when voters in 14 states, including Texas and California, head to the polls is not to win, but "minimize" frontrunner Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) margin of victory. But, fear not, Buttigieg supporters, that doesn't mean the campaign is giving up. Schmuhl added that the subsequent Tuesdays on March 10 and 17 are where the mayor really has a chance to shine, pointing out that while Super Tuesday accounts for 34 percent of available delegates, those two voting slates account for 28 percent.
In donor memo, Buttigieg campaign manager Mike Schmuhl sets less-than-winning expectations even if they can raise $$: "Our goal is to minimize Sanders’ margins on Super Tuesday and rack up delegates in the March 10 and
March 17 contests, which are much more favorable to us."— Henry J. Gomez (@HenryJGomez) February 26, 2020
FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver thinks the memo is admirable in that it sets "realistic expectations," but he also argues it means Buttigieg might eventually have to rely on a contested convention to win the nomination, because without a healthy amount of delegates on Super Tuesday it will become incredibly difficult to win outright.
This is some fairly realistic expectations-setting as these things go, but what's left unsaid is that this makes it almost impossible for Buttigieg to win with a delegate *majority*. He'd need a plurality and/or contested convention. https://t.co/pbrLtjWkzU
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) February 26, 2020
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