CNN's Meanwhile in America, the daily email about US politics for global readers. This was originally published in the November 6 edition of, the daily email about US politics for global readers. Sign up here to receive it every weekday morning.

(CNN) Pete Buttigieg is having what campaign flaks call "a moment."

Just 89 days before the Iowa caucuses, the 2020 hopeful and mayor of South Bend, Indiana , is basking in admiring profiles from a press pack, invited John McCain-style, on his campaign bus. Buttigieg has climbed into a quartet of candidates tipped to make noise in Iowa, and his lofty call for unity at the state's big Democratic dinner drew inevitable Barack Obama comparisons.

Kamala Harris, Julian Castro and Beto O'Rourke also had such 2020 moments -- and blew theirs. But Buttigieg may be better equipped to exploit the attention. At 37, he could be the herald of a new generation — a mythic role that often sends Democrats swooning (see John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Obama.)

He's erudite, an Afghan war veteran, and he speaks the vernacular of the electorally crucial Midwest. He's carving out moderate territory between Joe Biden, who may be yesterday's man, and liberal icons Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. And his historic potential to be the first President who identifies as gay could draw converts from the party's progressive left.

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