Funny, here they said he is the mayor of South Bend, I think. Well, since wwhen does a poor performance stop a politician from climbing the career ladder? Look at our former minister of defense, Ursula von der Leyen. After 7 or so years of being in office, the German military is almost inoperational, many millions have been wasted, and she even faced accusations of fraud. And did she get fired? No - she got promoted to being president of the High Commission of the EU in Brussels. Basically the highest position there is in the EU apparatus.
So, ruining just one town isn't too bad, in comparison...

Well, I meant they found out in Iowa that Buttigieg is a serious competitor to Sanders, who was seen as the top candidate previously. Poor old Bernie... last time his own party shot him down, and now he has to compete with a young dynamic mr nice guy. But I think Sanders is too radical to have chance in a presidential election anyway. 50% think he is a proper communist, and of the other 50% perhaps 20% think he is right but overdoing it.

About Buttigieg's name - they are still practicing here. And the spelling... I really don't know where this could come from, never seen anything similar. I would assume, it's some east european name that got butchered when his ancestors immigrated into the USA. Something like Buteczic (Serbian/Kroatian) perhaps. Which would sound in english something like Boot-a-chitch. Nice work the guys on Ellis Island did there... :)