Why does Buttigieg get such media coverage?

When we managed to book South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg as a special guest for a live performance of Weeds At South by Southwest in early March, it was not exactly our dream choice. We had first looked for several more well known and qualified candidates, but they were reluctant or refused. Mayor Pete said yes.

Later that day, he gave a lecture to CNN live from Austin. On March 4, he made an episode of Preet Bharara's podcast. He made an episode of The show of Ezra Klein. He went on the podcast of Medhi Hasan deconstructed. He attended the New Yorker podcast of Dorothy Wickenden and recently spoke with John Hardwood on his CNBC show. You may have seen it on the Last show or more recently on Ellen.

If you do politics, then everywhere you look, you see Pete Buttigieg. There is no doubt that this strategy could backfire. If he had bombarded these appearances, it would obviously not help, but it is also clear that the great media coverage is at the heart of his recent rise in the number of polls.

So obvious, in fact, that some fans of other candidates are annoyed and believe they feel a conspiracy. Most organizers and producers do not like to discuss their reservation issues publicly, but Buttigieg's communications staff say that to say aggressively "yes" to media invitations and "do not make fun of non-traditional outlets" has been the centerpiece of their public relations strategy. Meanwhile, other journalists like Harwood confirm that they also had more trouble booking some of the best known candidates.

As personalities and political thinkers, Buttigieg and Donald Trump are very different. But Buttigieg seems to have assimilated one of the key lessons of the Trump campaign in 2016: on a congested ground, attention is the rarest commodity, and it is worth looking where it is. Trump had no traditional political experience nor traditional campaign operation, but he was eager and eager to be ubiquitous on television in non scripted situations.

Some major candidates are lying low

A more cautious approach, of course, is not a bad idea in itself.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has maintained a steady lead in polls without even officially proclaiming his candidacy let alone making a huge blitz on podcast. His name is universally recognized and his favorable ratings among Democrats are very high. He is therefore happy for the moment to lead a pioneering campaign focused mainly on the minimization and appearance before a few friendly hearings.

Senator Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) polls are not as good, but he enjoys a very high profile and, unlike Biden, has a huge social media audience.

It is not certain that this same calculation also bore fruit for Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) and former Texas representative Beto O. Rourke, who two months ago were much more known as Buttigieg, but let him suck. ton of oxygen media.

Harris did Pod Save America in May 2017, but was quite circumspect with his appearances in the media during the campaign. Her CNN town hall at the end of January was well received and helped her climb to the top of the pack, but she was not followed by aggressive media. She did not come to the south from the southwest where Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Buttigieg and Washington Governor Jay Inslee all participated in public appearances. organized by the Texas Tribune. And of course, you do not see it on the podcasts of the average list. Instead, she participated in campaigns in the early primary states, wooed California-based donors, and tried to block endorsements.

O 'Rourke is not very shy about the media (after all, he made the cover of Vanity Fair), but he also did not book himself on CNN, did not participate in a conversation with Texas Tribune and was surprisingly invisible after the initial attention paid to his announcement and his impressive fundraising.

O'Rourke's schedule is full of events in person – taking advantage of the fact that he does not have day work to make appearances faster than anyone else. But the volume of attention paid to his race in the Senate in 2018, largely motivated by the novelty of a viable, Texas-wide democratic campaign, may have left him with a misleading impression as for the interest of people for a guy standing on countertops. Meanwhile, Buttigieg strengthens its abilities to attract attention by launching signature quarrels.

A good quarrel feeds attention

The fact that a Democratic Party politician has political disagreements with Mike Pence regarding LGBT rights is not exactly a "Man Bites Dog" story.

But Buttigieg managed to take advantage of the fact that he's both gay and Indian in a multi-day feud with the US vice president. The mayor of South Bend has criticized the name of the former governor of his state, Pence. Then he asked Karen Pence to attack him, the vice president himself to attack him, and then to the television broadcast by relaying it to the media, saying to Ellen DeGeneres: "I do not criticize his faith, I criticize bad policies.

Of course, every Democrat is literally critical of Pence's politics, but in one way or another, only Buttigieg is in the news.

The whole story even gave rise to a rather critical article from the Associated Press, which indicated that when Pence was governor, Buttigieg seemed to have a very friendly relationship with him, even going so far as to avoid two high-profile fights related to LGBT rights.

But for a candidate who continues to be held back by low name recognition, even a slightly critical story can be a useful exhibit. This is particularly true in this case because AP's story not only received his name but also highlighted some of Buttigieg's accomplishments as mayor of a small town working in a pragmatic way to help others.

It is a cliché in American politics that opposition parties like to pick a candidate who is somehow the opposite of the outgoing president hated. And Buttigieg – a young, gay and extremely serious Midwestern intellectual who is also a veteran – certainly fits a version of this bill. But he is also very sensitive to the extent to which the Trump election has lowered the criteria for eligibility for high office.

As Olivia Nuzzi, author of a new profile of Buttigieg in New York magazine, pointed out over the weekend, he has followed the model of getting coverage with fun to cover.

Of course, there are only nine months left before the vote in primary, and it is more likely that otherwise Buttigieg finds itself unable to maintain this momentum, especially as D & O Other candidates come forward. But whether or not his strategy succeeds in winning, Buttigieg proves that courting media that is won by showing up relentlessly can suit many political figures. This strategy is not inextricably linked to Trump's policy or relationship with Fox News.