Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to an overflow crowd before making a scheduled appearance at Exeter Town Hall Friday evening. [Paul Steinhauser] ▲ Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg takes photos with the crowd during an appearance at the Exeter Town Hall Friday evening. [Paul Steinhauser] ▲ Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to a packed crowd at the historic Exeter Town Hall on Friday evening. [Paul Steinhauser] ▲ Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg acknowledges the crowd during an appearance at the Exeter Town Hall Friday evening. [Paul Steinhauser] ▲

EXETER -- Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg took aim at Republican President Donald Trump in front of a jam-packed crowd at Exeter's historic Town Hall on Friday evening.

The South Bend, Indiana mayor, a one-time long-shot for the White House who's surged the past two months to become a very credible contender, also indirectly took a few jabs at former Vice President Joe Biden, the clear front-runner right now in the Democratic nomination race.

Buttigieg, speaking to a crowd that his campaign estimated at 680 people, criticized Trump for "chest thumping militarism" as the specter of war with Iran rises. He added that the president "now seems to be setting us on a course that could lead to violent confrontation."

And taking aim at Trump and the Republican Party, the Afghanistan War veteran who would become the nation's first openly gay president if he wins the 2020 election, highlighted that "I'm pretty sure God doesn't belong to a political party and if he did, I can't imagine it would be the one that's in charge of the White House."

In an obvious reference to Biden - who many Democratic voters feel may be the most electable candidate of the whopping two-dozen Democrats currently running for president - Buttigieg argued that "sometimes we pick somebody who is less inspiring that we think will also be less risky, and we wind up getting somebody that's neither."

Asked by a member of the crowd why they should support him, Buttigieg declared "two reasons, I'm going to make a really good president and I'm going to win."

The 37-year old candidate - the youngest in the field of White House hopefuls - briefly spoke to a large overflow crowd outside the Town Hall before he entered the building.

Inside, he made the case that his credentials of steering a smaller sized city stacks up against many of his more well-known rivals with years more elected office experience at the federal or statewide level. The candidate said that what people want in Washington today is "for it to look more like our best run cities and towns before the reverse starts to happen."

While there's still more than eight months to go until New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation presidential primary, many people in the crowd were leaning towards Buttigieg.

"I haven't made up my mind 100 percent," Frank Whittemore of Kensington said before adding that "I really love Buttigieg.....he's a good man, he's articulate. Everything he says makes sense to me."

His wife Lynne Monroe noted that Buttigieg "makes me feel hope and he makes me feel safe and me makes me feel mostly calm. He makes me feel better than anybody's made me feel in years."

Patrick Kamieneski of Hampton complimented Buttigieg, saying "I think he's very intelligent. I think he's a good leader. I think after Trump we're going to need someone who's a good leader to get us out of the post-Trump era and I think he's someone who could do that."

But he added that "I'm also looking at Kamala Harris. I was for Bernie in 2016 and I think times have changed quite a lot since then and the last few years have changed my mind a bit."

George Koch, a minister from Hampton Falls, said Buttigieg is "refreshing. He's smart. He thinks before he talks. He doesn't rise to the baiting of President Trump, so there's a lot to like."

But he added that he's also "looking at Kamala Harris. I am looking at Biden just to see if he's changed. I'm willing to give Cory Booker a look."

Buttigieg's stop in Exeter was his second in a two-day swing through New Hampshire.