Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign strategy might soon adopt a part of Sen. John McCain’s 2000 run.
In 2000, McCain rode around the country in a bus as part of his Straight Talk Express. He would invite reporters aboard the bus to ask questions in a bid to paint himself as a political maverick. One of Buttigieg’s top aides, Lis Smith, told Politico the campaign is considering a similar tactic.
She said the campaign has been exploring the idea of renting a bus and allowing reporters to travel with Buttigieg, 37, peppering him with any question they want every day.
“I am a liberal Democrat, but I was so into the McCain thing. I romanticize it. I have talked to all the guys who you see in the shots. I fucking love John McCain. Why do I fucking love John McCain? Because he was a badass. He was out there,” Smith told the news organization.
“He was going up against George Bush, who had $50 million and he had $4 million, and so he just decides to tear up the playbook and put himself out there,” Smith said. “And if people like it, they like it, and if they don’t, they were probably never going to vote for you anyway.”
McCain was a senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death at age 81 from brain cancer last August. He ran for president in 2000, losing to George W. Bush in the primaries. McCain ran again in 2008 and secured the Republican nomination but lost in the general election to Barack Obama.
Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., was a low-tier candidate without much name recognition when he announced he was forming an exploratory committee back in January but has since seen a considerable uptick in the polls. A RealClearPolitics national average of polls has Buttigieg at 7.5% support, ahead of well-known names such as Democratic Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey.
