2020 Democratic candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke to roughly 300 people in attendance in his Sunday morning stop at the Central Iowa Expo near Boone. Photo by Rachel Riley for the Ames Tribune ▲ 2020 Democratic candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke to roughly 300 people in attendance in his Sunday morning stop at the Central Iowa Expo near Boone. Photo by Rachel Riley for the Ames Tribune ▲ 2020 Democratic candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg spoke to roughly 300 people in attendance in his Sunday morning stop at the Central Iowa Expo near Boone. Photo by Rachel Riley for the Ames Tribune ▲

BOONE — In an exclusive interview with Ames Tribune, 2020 Democratic candidate and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg said there are three things a candidate has to do to win Iowa.

First, connect with Iowa's engaged voters. Second, establish the necessary resources to make it to the Feb. 3 ballots. Third, continue to establish a ground game in Iowa's most urban and most rural counties.

"We're seeing that a lot of indication that a lot of people won't make up their minds until the last few days, so the work we do from until then is largely how we earn our victory," Buttigieg said to Ames Tribune following his town-hall event at the Central Iowa Expo near Boone. "If you want the furthest from the left hand, then you have your choice. If you want someone with the most years in Washington, then you have your choice. If you want an alternative from that, that's where I come in."

And, perhaps, making a grand entrance into the Central Iowa Expo building in a blue double-decker rain-covered bus isn't a bad fourth step to making an impression on 300 potential caucus-voters during his Sunday campaign stop in Boone.

"It was quite an entrance," said Joyce Lewis, a Ogden native. "For someone so young, he's so poised. He reminds me of a young John Kennedy. He has the honor and integrity that we need in a presidential candidate."

The 37-year-old, who is entrenched in the fourth spot in most national and major polls, outside the top-three tier of former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, Buttigieg promoted himself as the "new generation" of leadership.

"If we want to win, we can't just say we're going back to the normal, because normal didn't work," Buttigieg said. "We need to show that leadership of the future will be better than the leadership of the past."

If elected, Buttigieg would be the youngest president elected into office at 38, his age by election year. He would also be the first openly gay nominee and president of the United States.

Despite a candidacy profile constrastive to the past 45 presidents. Buttigieg said his campaign is striving to redefine the concepts of leadership through bold action and union in differences.

"I think every candidate has to do two things at once: you have show how you fit into the presidency and you've also got to define the presidency," Buttigieg said. "My view is that that purpose of presidency at a time like this is to lead people toward bold action and do it in a way that unifies people. I'm asking people to grow their imagination to what the presidency can be."

Opting to enter into a dialogue, rather than a monologue with Sunday's crowd — Buttigieg fielded questions ranging from immigration reform to gun control.

On a particular issue close to the candidate and former combat veteran, Buttigieg responded to the announcement from the Pentagon on Friday it will deploy additional U.S. troops and missile defense equipment to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates following drone attacks on an oil site in Saudi Arabia, aggression the Trump administration has blamed on Iran.

Buttigieg said decisions on deployment should be based on a Congressional vote.

"When I'm president, any time there's an authorization to use force, it's going to have a three-year sunset, and Congress will have to vote for anybody to stay there," Buttigieg said. "If troops have the courage to go overseas and fight for this country, then members of Congress ought to be able to take a vote on whether they ought to be there in the first place."

Furthering his point, he added, "As a veteran, I think a lot about just how hard it is to end a war, which is why, in the case of Iran, we've got to make sure to do everything we can to make sure one doesn't start."

Buttigieg drew a strong reception for his comments on gun control — noting weapons he used on the combat field, such as assault rifles, have no place in schools and communities.

"If 90 percent of the American population believes that we need universal background checks, and that includes Republicans and gun owners, (then) we've got to ask the question how can there be such a strong majority among the American people and not a majority in Congress?" Buttigieg said.

"Everybody in this country can have a slingshot, nobody ... may have a nuclear weapon. We've already decided we can draw the line, and we've got to draw that line tighter, because lives are on the line"

Addressing the situation at the United States-Mexico border, Buttigieg said actions at the border are leaving a "moral stain" on the country. Under a Buttigieg Administration, he said family reunification efforts would be a priority, as well as helping pave a path to citizenship for rural immigration workers and Dreamers.

"Family separation will never be American policy when I'm president," Buttigieg said. "Another thing you're not going to see is for-profit detention centers."