Democratic party candidate Pete Buttigieg is quitting the race after poor showings in Nevada and South Carolina. With little cash on hand and rivals surging, the 38-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said that "the best way to keep faith with those goals and ideals is to step aside and help bring our party and our nation together" as he announced the suspension of his campaign.

Mr Buttigieg surprisingly, and narrowly, won the first event of the primary season, the caucuses in Iowa on 3 February. But he failed to repeat that success and win the delegates needed to make him the front- runner and later confirm his nomination. He finished a distant fourth in South Carolina on Saturday.

Buttigieg broke new ground as the first openly gay man to launch a major party campaign for President; right up to the end, opinion polls showed him soundly defeating President Trump in a one-on-one matchup. Read the rest

And you thought Facebook was in the bag for Trump! Mark Zuckerberg and his wife have privately made hiring recommendations for Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign, and the recommendations were hired by it.

Earlier this year, Zuckerberg sent multiple emails to Mike Schmuhl, Buttigieg’s campaign manager, with names of individuals that he might consider hiring, campaign spokesman Chris Meagher confirmed. Priscilla Chan, Zuckerberg’s wife, also sent multiple emails to Schmuhl with staff recommendations. Ultimately, two of the people recommended were hired.

Buttigieg's centrist presidential campaign floundered until recently, but has enjoyed a surprise surge as Joe Biden's risen star sputtered. Buttigieg recently became conspiciously defensive of billionaires and big corporations, and maybe now you know why. Read the rest

Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Democratic candidate and a proponent of "democratically influenced capitalism", has his own campaign brand typography. Faces include Aktiv Grotesk ("sleek lines [that] feel equally modern today as they would have in an old Studebaker ad"), Industry ("the visual language of American manufacturing ... industrial, sporty or military") and Domaine Text ("a sophisticated companion to the modern geometry of Aktiv and the stark boldness of Industry")

Here's the (since removed) placeholder text, as spotted by Brett Banditelli.

Says it all, really. Read the rest