Buttigieg campaign draws comparisons to Obama ahead of key Iowa event

Pete Buttigieg’s campaign drew comparisons between the South Bend, Ind., mayor’s 2020 presidential bid and former President Obama’s 2007 presidential bid on Wednesday ahead of a key Iowa campaign event. 

Buttigieg’s senior messaging adviser, Larry Grisolano, who held the same position in Obama’s 2007 campaign, drew the comparison in a fundraising email to supporters ahead of Friday’s Liberty and Justice Celebration in Des Moines.

“Voters yearned for change, for someone genuine and sincere,” Grisolano wrote. “They were well aware of the country’s mounting challenges, and they were prepared to take a chance on a new approach and new leadership because the same old ways just were not working.”

{mosads}He then cited Obama’s speech at the event, calling it “the moment that changed everything for the Obama campaign and, ultimately, for the country.”

“That same moment for Pete, and for America, is this Friday night,” he continued. 

Obama’s address at the Iowa dinner was largely seen as a turning point for the campaign before the then-Illinois senator went on to win the 2008 Iowa caucuses. 

While Buttigieg has struggled to break out of the Democratic primary’s middle tier, recent polling shows some hope for the Midwestern mayor in the Hawkeye State. 

A USA Today-Suffolk University survey released Wednesday shows Buttigieg in fourth place behind former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

The poll shows Biden with 26 percent support, Warren with 17 percent, Sanders with 13 percent and Buttigieg with 10 percent.