There are plenty of reasons for Democratic primary voters to say no to Pete Buttigieg in their search for a nominee who can beat President Trump. The former South Bend, Ind., mayor would ask Americans to elect their youngest president ever, and their first who is openly gay. His vote total in the Iowa caucuses — about 43,000 — is more than he ever received as mayor, by a factor of five.Former vice president Joe Biden darkly warns that nominating Buttigieg would put the party “at risk.” And yet, from the start, Democrats have been trying like hell to get to yes with Mayor Pete. Which is why he’ll probably finish at or near the top in New Hampshire on Tuesday, and why he’ll likely be in this thing to the end.

I say that because if Buttigieg rolls in New Hampshire, all these worries about how he raises money or wins over African Americans will sort themselves out. If we’ve learned anything in modern primaries, it’s that winning begets winning.(His bigger obstacle could be Mike Bloomberg, who has Buttigieg soundly beat when it comes to mayoral records and net worth.)
Having covered campaigns for a couple of decades, I’ve come to believe that some candidates are just get-to-yes candidates: Voters are looking for reasons to support them, because it feels ennobling. And the only question for the candidate is whether he or she can offer voters enough reassurance to make the leap.

Take, for instance, Barack Obama, whose age and lack of governing experience gave voters legitimate reasons, in both the 2008 primaries and in the general election, to choose someone else. They didn’t, because Obama was a get-to-yes candidate; he made them feel good about themselves and the country. They found a way to overlook the rest. For months now, a lot of Democrats have been telling us that Buttigieg inspires them. They love the idea of a Rhodes scholar with military credentials, a gay candidate who doesn’t let identity define him, a candidate who came of age with social media and isn’t pushing 80.

They just wish Buttigieg were even five years older or that he was the mayor of, you know, a real city. They’d like to be able to vote for him; it just seems like such a stretch. But as we saw in Iowa, Buttigieg . . . has given them enough reason to look past all that. He’s lightning-quick on his feet, oddly self-confident, relentlessly disciplined and forward-looking. He’s steadily getting them to yes, much as Obama did. No one else in the field enjoys that advantage with voters who remain undecided at this stage.