THOMAS BEAUMONT
Associated Press
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) — Pete Buttigieg strides past an oversized photograph of himself dressed in fatigues, the Afghan horizon behind him, as he enters a Des Moines arena for an Iowa Democratic Party gala.
In his first Iowa television ad, he holds a rifle and points it toward the rubble at his feet, introducing himself, “As a veteran ... .”
Like candidates from the time of George Washington, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor is leaning hard on his seven-month deployment as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan as a powerful credential. As he does, he walks a narrow path between giving his wartime service its due and overstating it.
He is careful not to call himself a combat veteran even as he notes the danger he faced. One of his former competitor
