Now, it’s clear many in the media have gone bananas for Mr. Buttigieg. That’s not surprising: We love a fresh new face, particularly if it’s historic (first openly gay president?) and kind of quirky (ask him about “Finnegans Wake”; or, on second thought, maybe don’t.)

But are real humans — you know, the kind that actually vote — feeling that same tingle? There’s some evidence that they are: Google searches are up. He brought in more than $600,000 in donations after a televised town hall event on CNN earlier this month, enough to qualify for the debate stage. And a new poll out today from Quinnipiac University has him at a whopping 4 percent, even with Senator Elizabeth Warren and far above his previous national standing of 1 percent.

Of course, polyglot or not, Mr. Buttigieg remains a very untested quantity on the national stage. His most significant national political experience was a failed bid for the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee. He has tackled crime, economic blight and congestion as mayor of South Bend, but the city has a population of just over 100,000 — hardly like leading New York or Los Angeles.

Mr. Buttigieg’s lack of a political past may be an asset, though, since he has no record of roll call votes, no history of stances on controversial issues. Just ask Joe Biden, who found himself facing backlash this week after musing that he wished he could have “done something” about the way the Senate Judiciary Committee treated Anita Hill in 1991. (Mr. Biden was the chairman of that committee at the time.)

What this whole Buttigieg moment tells me is that we may be into a campaign much like the Republican race in 2012: Remember Herman Cain? Or Tim Pawlenty? Both those men caught a spark, if not quite fire, during that long primary slog.