Second Writing Assignment Professor: Gregory Finley

The Phuc Dinh (Mike)

Second Writing Assignment – POLL 111

Professor: Gregory Finley

Date: Dec 1st, 2019

Next Year's Presidential Election

Question 1: In three to five paragraphs, set forth which candidate you are supporting. Please list at
least three things you like about the candidate. In short, what is it about the candidate that makes you
like them?

I am totally impressed with how Pete Buttigieg replied to the questions on November 20 debate.
Doing some more researches on the internet, I believe that Pete Buttigieg is the candidate that I am
strongly supporting now. There are some main reasons lead me to this choice.

First of all, Buttigieg is the youngest candidates in the race. He is only 37 years old. Although he is
so young, he proved that he was ready to run for president. Even before officially announcing his
candidacy for the Democratic primaries, he has raised an impressive $7 million in about three months.
His campaign book, Shortest Way Home, is selling well on Amazon. He is also rising in the polls,
ahead of better-known names such as Cory Booker and Amy Klobuchar. There are not many candidates
can do as what he has done at his age. With that said, what he has done so far really appeals to young
people including me, who want to see a significant contribution of young generation in our political
system. This is one reason why I support him.

Second, he is a smart candidate with outstanding education credentials. I observe how he answered
the questions on the debate on November 20. There were many moments he turned the questions from
the disadvantages to his advantages. Furthermore, he graduated from Harvard in 2004 and subsequently
won a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford, where he proceeded to acquire a Bachelor of Arts degree
with first-class honors in philosophy, politics and economics. He also can speak 8 languages: English,
Dari, Norwegian, Italian, French, Maltese, Arabic and Spanish. Those are some things make me believe
that he is one of the best qualified candidates.

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Second Writing Assignment Professor: Gregory Finley

Finally, one of the most unique policy of Buttigieg relates to the Supreme Court. He claims that he
wants to expand the Supreme Court from nine to fifteen justices. Buttigieg thinks that if five justices
are appointed by Democratic presidents and five justices are appointed by Republican presidents, those
10 justices must then unanimously agree on who the additional five should be. Buttigieg is the only
Democratic candidate discussing a legitimate solution to the ubiquitous power struggle within the
Supreme Court. This is something that interests me.

Question 2: List the single biggest strength as well as their single biggest liability as a candidate:

Personally, I believe that his biggest strength is his intelligence, thoughtfulness, and
persuasiveness. From what I have observed, he can get people to agree with him and have them feel
good about themselves. His way of articulating things is particularly powerful.

On the other hand, he has no national experience running anything. I think this is his biggest
liability. He is currently a mayor of at best a medium sized town. Anything accomplishment in his
record can be dismissed by opponents because it was only done in a small city of 100,000. I think it is
important to have some experience on the national level if a candidate wants to become the president of
the United States.

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Second Writing Assignment Professor: Gregory Finley

Works Cited

Agiesta, Jennifer. “CNN Poll: Biden Leads Nationally as Buttigieg Rises.” CNN, Cable News Network,
27 Nov. 2019, https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/27/politics/cnn-poll-joe-biden-pete-
buttigieg/index.html.

Pak, Nataly, and Elizabeth Thomas. “Pete Buttigieg: Everything You Need to Know about the 2020
Presidential Candidate.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 12 Sept. 2019,
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/peter-buttigieg/story?id=60731298.

Welfley, Ian. “Opinion: Why Pete Buttigieg Is the Best 2020 Candidate.” The Breeze, 11 June 2019,
https://www.breezejmu.org/opinion/opinion-why-pete-buttigieg-is-the-best-
candidate/article_146ac456-8c8a-11e9-a10b-4b8df9a79e38.html.

“Where Pete Buttigieg Stands on the Biggest 2020 Issues.” POLITICO,

https://www.politico.com/2020-election/candidates-views-on-the-issues/pete-buttigieg/.

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