Washington (CNN) Yes, you read that headline right.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg has had a pretty remarkable run over the last few months in the 2020 presidential race. He's gone from nowhere to the top tier largely on the strength of his fresh-faced appeal (he's 37) and strong personal story (he's a military veteran and a Rhodes scholar).

But to date, Buttigieg hasn't faced a ton of scrutiny for his views or his statements. Which brings me to Mayor Pete's interview on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday -- and his answer to a question about his faith and politics.

"It's important that we stop seeing religion used as a kind of cudgel as if God belonged to a political party," Buttigieg told NBC's Craig Melvin . "If it did, I can't imagine it would be the one that sent the current President into the White House."

The first part of that quote is fine -- and the sort of stuff that Buttigieg has said a lot on the campaign trail as he seeks to reclaim religion as an issue Democrats can talk about.

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