According to the Associated Press Pete Buttigieg won the most number of delegates by besting Bernie Sanders with the slimmest of margins.  Mayor Pete won the Iowa caucus with 26.2% of the vote and Bernie Sanders won with 26.1%.  The top four were rounded out with Elizabeth Warren winning 18% and Joe Biden won 15.8%.

The New Hampshire primary is Tuesday, February 11 (just 4 days away).  According to the NBC/Marist poll as of today the standing is Bernie Sanders in first place with 25% and Pete Buttigieg in second place with 21%.  Elizabeth Warren has 14% and Joe Biden has 13%.  All of the candidates are going to face off this evening in a debate before the residents of New Hampshire cast their ballots on Tuesday.

I think that it is important to mention a few demographics of both Iowa and New Hampshire before I continue.  According to the latest Census data it is estimated that the state of Iowa has 3,179,849 residents.  The racial demographics in the state are 90.6% white, 3.42 African American, and 2.28% Asian.  The racial demographics of New Hampshire are about the same.  According to the latest Census data it is estimated that the state of New Hampshire has 1.36 million residents.  The racial demographics in the state are 93.9% white, 1.1 African American, and 0.02% American Indian.  When you compare this to the United States, the percentage of non-Hispanic whites is 60.7% according to the 2010 census.

Think about that for a minute.  Where one ranks in the Iowa and New Hampshire caucus and primary respectively creates momentum and perception.  Money starts to pool behind one candidate or another based on that perception.  More money means more commercials and employees in one’s campaign.  That logically leads to higher name recognition, and then all of a sudden people start comparing one candidate from one side to the candidate on the other side.  All of a sudden there is a binary choice that is less based on programs, proposals, and beliefs.  Once we reach the one on one stage of the Democratic and Republican nominees, we start comparing appearance and speech.  We start imagining which candidate can and should sit behind the Resolute Desk.

And this entire process of selecting the person who is going to reside over the largest, richest, and most powerful country in the history of the world starts with a skewed representation in two of the smallest mostly agrarian and rural states with some of the largest disproportional representation of one race of people.

And after all of that one of the top two candidates at this point in the process is a thirty-eight year old, white, gay, married man whose closest executive experience is managing the city of South Bend, Indiana with a population of 102,245 people.  I find it hard to believe that the Democratic Party seriously believes that the majority of this country is going to vote for Pete Buttigieg.  Call it age discrimination because many voters will believe that he is too young.  Call it bigotry because many people are not ready to see a married gay man in the White House.  Call it religious discrimination because many Christians believe that homosexuality is a sin.

Whatever you call it, can we just be honest for a moment?  Donald Trump must not under any circumstances be allowed to win another term as president.  He has and continues to decimate the democratic underpinnings of this country.  Trump is a maniacal megalomaniac who has yet to show us the true depths of his worst delusions put into practice as president.  And now after surviving impeachment aided by the unwavering support of the Republicans in Congress, he is going to be unrestrained from satiating his wildest impulses.  We cannot gamble on the better angels of our citizenry.  Not in 2020.  Donald Trump must be stopped and Democratic Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is not the person to do it.