'Pete Resonated With Me': Kevin Costner Brings Star Power To Pete Buttigieg NH Primary Push
MILFORD, NH (CBS) - Supporters lined up an hour ahead of Pete Buttigieg's rally in Milford, New Hampshire, ready to see one of the youngest contenders for the democratic nomination for president.
"We are all Americans and Pete's idea of belonging is for everybody," said Beth Harper from Hollis, NH.
While Buttigieg is trailing Bernie Sanders in polls in New Hampshire ahead of the primary on Tuesday, his supporters are hopeful he will pull through after he won the Iowa caucus.
"While Senator Sanders' ideals are ideals that I think most Americans share, at the end of the day we are supposed to explain how we are going to get from here to there. And when there is a hole in his proposals that amount to $25 trillion," Buttigieg said.
As Buttigieg campaigned into the final hours, he brought with him celebrity support. Actor Kevin Costner sat in the front row at his events in Milford and Exeter.
"Pete resonated with me," Costner said.
He said Mayor Pete's ability to listen got him hooked.
"I'm an actor. 'Why should you be talking about politics?'" Costner said. "That's an easy place to go but I pay taxes. I have children. It matters to me the life they are going to inherit and I don't like the direction we are going."
The number one critique of the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana has been his young age and lack of experience. But his supporters say they feel connected to him because he listens to them as people from a small town.
"You don't have decades of establishment experience. You aren't even from one of the biggest cities in the United States. To which I say that's very much the point," Buttigieg said.
