The moderates really didn't think this one through. They probably didn't expect the Biden voting block to be so receptive to other moderate candidates.
Should have been an easy nomination for them having someone with some name recognition and basically not being Hillary Clinton.
I kind of have the impression that Biden is bleeding support to these other moderates specifically because for most of the US they
don't have his name recognition. It allows people to vote for their hypothetical Obama-era status quo while still picking an "outsider."
It's all an illusion, of course. But I think there's some benefit to them being new faces compared to Biden. Biden sort of assures liberals that "we can go back to how things were" but Buttigieg (and to a lesser extent Klobuchar) make liberals think they can have the
same things just while still moving forward instead of back.
I dunno. I don't support any of them personally so I can't say I understand it but I am becoming more and more assured that Buttigieg lets people who like Biden get "Biden, but new!" and that's interests them more than "Same Old Biden."
It is weird to think of someone like Pete as an outsider because this is not at all reflected in his policy but for most of America he is a total stranger who beat Biden in Iowa so now they're thinking "why not?"
This concludes my excellent political analysis.