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(ANKENY, Ia.) – The battle for the Democratic presidential nomination isn’t just about different visions of the country. 
It’s also about different visions of what experience the job demands.

Pete Buttigieg’s rivals, particularly Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, have questioned whether his experience as a mayor is enough for him to navigate a global stage in Washington. Buttigieg’s Iowa endorsers have argued it’s exactly the right resume.

Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack argues the skills you need as mayor are exactly what’s needed. He says mayors have to interact with constituents at ground level, understand their problems, anbd solve them.

Fellow mayors Bruce Teague of Iowa City and Clinton Hart of Waterloo argue mayors don’t get a choice of who to work with. Solving problems requires working with everyone, even those who disagree with you politically.

Teague, like Buttigieg, is gay, and suggests that experience has also helped Buttigieg build a record of inclusiveness and
diversity in South Bend. He says that record encompasses not just LGBTQ constituents, but minorities, women, and a
record of caring for “the little people.”

Along with Klobuchar, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden are selling 
variations on the idea that they can get things done in Washington because they’ve been doing it. Entrepreneurs Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang come to the race as outsiders with no political experience.

But Buttigieg isn’t the only mayor in the race. Sanders was mayor of Burlington, Vermont, before his election to Congress in 1990. And former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn’t competing in Iowa, but is pushing hard in next month’s Super Tuesday states, which will select about 40-percent of Democrats’ delegates.

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg shakes hands with supporters after a rally in Des Moines (Photo: Eric Berman/WIBC)