“Pete Buttigieg, whose presidential campaign was a surprise fundraising machine in the lead-up to 2020, is counting on a stripped-down, grassroots-driven style of organizing to keep his candidacy alive in and after next week’s Super Tuesday primaries,” BuzzFeed News reports.

“Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign is dealing with some departures in the closing days before the Iowa caucuses, as its head of talent and cybersecurity aides have left, and some nonwhite staffers have shared concerns about what they see as a lack of inclusivity,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

New York Times: Inside the Buttigieg campaign as staff members of color sought to be heard.

Slate: “The evidence seems overwhelming that, despite the campaign’s repeated denials, Pete Buttigieg has had knowledge of, and at least some active participation in, the maintenance of his Wikipedia presence. This is not a crime. It’s just a deeply weird thing to deny.”

Pete Buttigieg has been given permission by consulting giant McKinsey & Company to disclose the clients he worked for while he worked for the firm, CNN reports.

From a McKinsey spokesperson: “We recognize the unique circumstances presented by a presidential campaign. After receiving permission from the relevant clients, we have informed Mr. Buttigieg that he may disclose the identity of the clients he served while at McKinsey from 2007 to 2010.”

“Progressive activists around the country are mobilizing to halt the momentum of Pete Buttigieg, who they increasingly view as a formidable threat to win the Democratic presidential nomination,” McClatchy reports.

“Top liberal leaders from multiple organizations are independently crafting strategies that center around three prongs: a heightened focus on Buttigieg’s checkered record on race in South Bend, Ind., his little-known work at the McKinsey consulting firm and an argument that his tempered policy proposals align with the wishes of large corporations.”

“The escalation of attacks against Buttigieg comes not only as he emerges as a next-generation alternative to moderate Joe Biden, but as he shows signs of undercutting a progressive’s path to victory in the 2020 primary.”

“Pete Buttigieg worked at McKinsey & Company, an elite consulting firm with global reach, for three years. But as the South Bend, Indiana, mayor builds his case for why he should be president, he has pointedly kept the details of that line on his resume a secret,” the HuffPost reports.

“Now that he is gaining in early-voting states, ethics advocates are calling on Buttigieg to stop dodging questions and tell the public exactly what he did at the world’s most prestigious — and notorious — consulting firm.”

Associated Press: “Interviews with nearly two dozen people who knew him in his formative years paint a picture of a child with an extraordinary range of talent and ambition, cultivated by a tight-knit family able to indulge his many interests. There were clear signs of the candidate’s earnestness and intensity. Friends and family say he worked to overcome an early shyness by throwing himself into challenges. All the while he felt a bit apart.”

“Pete Buttigieg says if elected he’d like to name a woman to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs for the first time as 2020 hopefuls take aim at President Trump’s record on stemming military suicide and helping female vets,” the AP reports.

CNN: “Buttigieg spent much of his time on his three-day, 330-plus mile bus tour through northern Iowa preaching the need for unity, drawing a not-so-subtle contrast with Warren’s focus on fighting. It’s a new strategy that exemplifies the belief inside the Buttigieg campaign that Warren — whose growing and powerful campaign in the state is seen by Iowa operatives as outflanking former Vice President Joe Biden or Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders — is the biggest obstacle the South Bend, Indiana, mayor faces over finishing first in Iowa.”

New York Times: “For most of his political career, Mr. Buttigieg presented himself as more of a centrist technocrat than a liberal ideologue. But striving for attention in a crowded field, Mr. Buttigieg spent the early part of the 2020 Democratic primary touting an array of aspirational progressive ideas, delivering speeches that could have been ripped from an Aaron Sorkin script.”

“Now a serious candidate with a policy staff stocked with Washington insiders and a war chest boasting millions from big donors, Mr. Buttigieg has gradually reinvented himself as more of a moderate. While he hasn’t pivoted 180 degrees on policy proposals, he is modulating his positions and drawing explicit and implicit contrasts with his progressive rivals.”

For members: Is a Window Opening for Buttigieg?

“Internal focus groups conducted by Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign this summer reveal a key reason why he is struggling with African-American voters: many see his sexuality as a problem,” the Columbia State reports.

The 21-page report, conducted by the Benenson Strategy Group with black Democratic South Carolina voters in mid-July, found that “being gay was a barrier for these voters, particularly for the men who seemed deeply uncomfortable even discussing it… Their preference is for his sexuality to not be front and center.”

“We’re not going to beat Trump with pocket change.”

— Mayor Pete Buttigieg, in a Snapchat interview, on Elizabeth Warren’s small donor strategy.

New York Times: “Boasting a huge financial war chest but struggling in the polls, Mr. Buttigieg is now staking his presidential candidacy on Iowa, and particularly on connecting with rural white voters who want to talk about personal concerns more than impeachment. In doing so, Mr. Buttigieg is also trying to show how Democrats can win back counties that flipped from Barack Obama to Donald Trump in 2016 — there are more of them in Iowa than any other state — by focusing, he said, on ‘the things that are going to affect folks’ lives in a concrete way.'”