NYT : Pete Buttigieg Just Wants to Be Useful

The former presidential candidate’s new political action committee is supporting some Democrats you’ve probably never heard of.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/20/us/politics/pete-buttigieg-interview.html

For a presidential candidate, a campaign is a state of continuous motion, a blur of rallies, interviews, strategy sessions and fund-raisers. Meals happen in cars and buses — if they happen at all. Exercise is a luxury. And sleep? Well, sometimes. Over the course of three weeks, Pete Buttigieg went from the nonstop pace of his nearly 15-month presidential bid to a dead halt, after he quit the Democratic race and Indiana shut down to stop the spread of the coronavirus. It wasn’t the post-campaign period that Mr. Buttigieg, or anyone really, had planned. That Mr. Buttigieg, who entered the race at age 37 and was the second-youngest presidential candidate in modern American history, has a political future ahead of him seems clear.

The question is, What will it look like? (For all you trivia lovers, former Gov. Jerry Brown of California was a few months younger than Mr. Buttigieg when he ran in the 1976 Democratic primary race.) Mr. Buttigieg has begun dropping a few clues from his quarantine in South Bend. Last week, he released the first slate of endorsements from his new political action committee, Win the Era. He’s been doing some virtual events for Joe Biden. His husband, Chasten, is writing a memoir. We talked to Mr. Buttigieg about campaign regrets, how he’s spending his days and what he might do next. (As usual, our conversation has been edited and condensed.)

Hi. Thanks so much for speaking with me. I can’t imagine getting off the high-speed train that is a presidential campaign and then coming into quarantine.

They talk about going from 60 miles an hour to zero, but we really went to zero in terms of physical motion. But one of the things we’re learning is there really are lots of ways to do things and be involved. You just have to be imaginative about how to do them while you’re in the four walls of your house.

Where are you quarantining?

I’m at home in South Bend. I’ve probably spent more time in this house in the last two months than I have since I bought it a decade ago. We definitely set an all-time record for the most meals we’ve cooked and eaten at the dining room table, which is great, because for the last year and a half most of my meals were in vehicles.

I have to say, I picture you being irritatingly productive during this time at home, like learning Greek or taking up the viola.......

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