Buttigieg Quits Democratic Presidential Race

One day after billionaire Tom Steyer dropped out of the presidential race after spending hundreds of millions on a very expensive ego trip, mayor Pete is also officially out after his dismal performance in South Carolina.

Campaign aide tells me Pete Buttigieg is suspending his campaign this evening.

— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) March 1, 2020

For a brief few moments after his narrow victory in the Iowa caucus, things looked good for the first openly gay major presidential candidate, but since then things have slumped and following a crushing loss in the South Carolina primary where his poor performance with black Democrats signaled an inability to build a broad coalition of voters, he has reportedly decided to pull the plug.

Buttigieg is on his way to South Bend where he will reportedly make the announcement later tonight (likely on his way to CNN, following Yang to become a ‘talking head’ commentator on the debacle ahead).

Mayor Pete had collapsed in the odds already but not as fats as Mike Bloomberg has since the first debate (and the second debate did nothing for him).

Biden’s rebound is of note, but Bernie remains the bookies’ favorite, but the real question is will Mike Bloomberg quit too after a surprisingly strong performance by Biden amid accusations mini Mike will steal from Biden’s centrist base if he does not quit before Super Tuesday.

What is perhaps just as worrying is the fact that with Buttigieg out, Hillary is now #4 in the odds…

As NYTimes notes, in the last presidential debate, on Tuesday in South Carolina, Mr. Buttigieg forcefully warned that nominating Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the front-runner, would lead to crushing defeat in the fall, not just “four more years of Donald Trump,’’ but the loss of the Democratic House majority secured by moderate candidates who won in suburban swing districts in 2018.

It would appear that thesis is about to be tested… but of course, after Tuesday everything will change.