Jimmy Carter said the quiet part aloud when speaking to reporters during a breakfast with Pete Buttigieg.
Carter, 95, met with Buttigieg, 38, and their spouses Sunday morning at Buffalo Cafe near his home in Plains, Georgia, one day after the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was walloped in the 2020 South Carolina Democratic presidential primary.
“I’ve liked him since I first met him,” the 39th president told reporters during a media availability, explaining how they met on a Habitat for Humanity project in Buttigieg’s hometown.
But the philanthropist and former farmer added, “He doesn’t know what he’s going to do after South Carolina.”
.@reidepstein asked Pres. Carter about Buttigieg– he told Reid, “Year before last we built houses for Habitat for Humanity in South Bend, IN because he was there. We got to know him then & I’ve liked him ever since. He doesn’t know what he’s going to do after South Carolina.” pic.twitter.com/jKmntz7RX5
— DJ Judd (@DJJudd) March 1, 2020
Buttigieg replied, “Every day, we’ll do the math.”
Buttigieg won in Iowa, a razor-thin victory over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, to whom he came second in New Hampshire. Yet he placed third in Nevada and fourth in South Carolina, which are more diverse early-nominating states, where he’s struggled to connect with minority Democrats, a key constituency heading into Super Tuesday next week. He’s now third in the delegate count with 26 to Sanders’s 58 and Joe Biden’s 50, running out of time and resources to insert himself back into the Democratic race for the White House.
Buttigieg told NBC News on Sunday that he makes assessments about his bid daily.
“Every day, we are in this campaign is a day that we have reached the conclusion that pushing forward is the best thing we can do for the country and for the party,” he said.
