Months from now, you could be passing along this piece to someone as you say, “I knew a guy who called it back in November of ’19 who called it!”

This early, we simply just don’t know how next year’s presidential race will turn out. There are so many variables that could affect the outcome, not just in the election, but also in the nominating process. However, I have a feeling, a hunch, an inner voice that is saying to me, “You know, this seems awful familiar.”

Candidates who were long-shots at this stage of the game (before the first primary) ended up receiving the nomination of their party and winning the whole thing. Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Georgia, was a very unlikely candidate.  Ronald Reagan, a former actor from California? C’mon. And Bill Clinton, a governor of the hog-raising state of Arkansas made it to our nation’s highest office, coming out of what seemed to be nowhere.

I remember a fairly tight presidential race that took place in 1960. I wasn’t into politics, since I was only five years old, but I do remember hearing things.  Oh, I was oblivious to the mentions in the evening news or in the newspapers (since I wasn’t very good at reading quite yet). In fact, my memory of that time in my life is pretty limited and slowly fading. Yet, I do recall hearing something that I have cited over the years in conversations where someone states that a particular candidate could never be president because (fill in the blank).

During that Presidential Campaign of 1960, somewhere along the line I heard that there was no way that John F. Kennedy would be elected president because he was a Roman Catholic. As we know now, not so much a practicing one, but a Roman Catholic. The phrase that burned into my brain from whatever source it came from was, “Yeah, if he gets elected, he’ll have us all praying to Mary.”

There had never been a member of the Catholic church elected to be an American president until JFK cracked that barrier.  By today’s standard, a pretty small barrier, but that was just the beginning of the evolutionary 1960s.

Years from now, I’m going to remember hearing people say, “Oh, Pete could never get elected president because he is gay.” Here’s where I go out on the skinny branches–I believe Pete Buttigieg will be the next President of the United States.

Several months ago, when he was a true longshot, I sent $50 his way, hoping that by some miracle, his candidacy could catch fire. Up until recently, it’s been Biden, Bernie, Warren and all the others. I figure the others are hanging in there so they might be considered as a running mate.

I’m convinced Pete is going to surprise people in Iowa and then, once people see that it’s OK to vote for him, his campaign is going to catch fire.

Why Pete?  Have you heard him speak. He’s eloquent, intelligent, a moderate Democrat (which is more in keeping with someone who could get things done) and has all the youthful energy that JFK did when he took office. There’s that military background, toss in manners and decorum and a Buttigieg presidency could end up being an incredible unifying gift to this country.

However the election turns out and whoever becomes president will have a small impact on my personal life and happiness. So many people act as if it’s a life and death matter and it can be if you want it to be.

From my view, I only see a man with conviction, who served his country–first in the military and then, in public office–who isn’t afraid to take the really big swing and reach for the country’s highest office.

Very Kennedy-esque. However, he’s gay instead of Catholic. I believe our democracy can survive. And so, I’m going to go with Mayor Pete as the longshot winner.

However you feel, vote, and we’ll get our answer in a year.

God bless America. (picture flag waving here)

Tim Hunter