In what will be a nasty Democratic primary battle which will foreshadow an even nastier Presidential election year, it was nice to see a moment of levity onboard a United Airlines flight.
The best way to catch a politician in Washington, DC is to head over to Reagan National Airport (DCA) on a Thursday evening or Friday. Most members of Congress return to their districts for the weekend, taking part in fundraising and community events.
Back when the DCA perimeter rule was stricter, you could count on the first class cabin on Alaska Airlines Flight 5 from DCA-LAX being full of politicians every Friday morning…I witnessed it myself. I’m sure the same true was on many routes.
This week, leading Democratic presidential candidates are debating in Houston on Thursday. Yesterday, Pete Buttigieg, the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, boarded a United Express flight from DCA to Houston (IAH). As he took his seat in row 14 (economy class), he noticed a familiar face seated one row in front of him in row 12 (United skips “unlucky” number 13).
It was United States Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat that “Mayor Pete” will share the stage with on Thursday.
Rather than just ignore her or offer her a greeting, Buttigieg asked someone to take their picture then Tweeted it, poking fun at United Airlines for seating them close to one another.
Very funny, @united pic.twitter.com/6RZuvXXGBz
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) September 10, 2019
United was quick to respond:
Hey Pete, we thought you two might want to talk debate strategies before the big night Thursday. ^RY
— United Airlines (@united) September 10, 2019
I’d say that’s a lot better tweet than the Lexus versus Toyota analogy made earlier in the week…
image: @PeteButtigieg
There are so many candidates in the Democratic field, traveling to the same places, that it’s inevitable this keeps happening.
In June Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren were seated one in front of the other. (And a couple of rows back there was a doppelganger for Mayor Pete.
https://viewfromthewing.com/2019/06/22/presidential-candidates-elizabeth-warren-and-bernie-sanders-awkwardly-sat-by-each-other-on-a-flight/
From your cover photo, I immediately recognized Mayor Pete. But even though I consider myself fairly knowledgeable with politics, I had no idea the other was Senator Klobuchar. Just goes to show the whole name recognition thing really is important…
Pete is so cute…