Sounds to me like a certain mayor is getting the impression that he hasn’t shifted far enough to the left yet if he wants to be in the first tier of primary candidates. And I’m not talking about Bill de Blasio, either. Mayor Pete Buttigieg was on the Hugh Hewitt Show this week and Hugh hit him with one question that the entire field will be answering sooner or later. Democrats have been renaming their annual Jefferson-Jackson dinners all over the country because Jefferson was a slave owner. Is Mayor Pete onboard with these changes? Oh, you bet he is, buddy. (Free Beacon)

Pete Buttigieg, who is running in a crowded Democratic field for president, said on Friday he believes renaming events and things named after President Thomas Jefferson is the “right thing to do.”

The South Bend mayor appeared on The Hugh Hewitt Show, where he was asked to weigh in on the name of the annual Indiana Democratic dinner, which was formerly named after party founders and former presidents Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. Indiana Democrats changed the name of the annual dinner in 2016…

“Yeah, we’re doing that in Indiana. I think it’s the right thing to do,” Buttigieg said. “Over time, you develop and evolve on the things you choose to honor … Jefferson is more problematic. There’s a lot of course to admire in his thinking and his philosophy, but then again if you plunge into his writings, especially the notes on the state of Virginia, you know that he knew slavery was wrong.”

We all learned in the previous election cycles that tearing Jefferson from the pages of American history because of his family’s ownership of slaves is a popular subject on the far left. And all the Democrats who previously were all too happy to show up and speak at Jefferson-Jackson dinners and accept checks from supporters are now shuffling their feet and looking uncomfortable when you bring the subject up.

But Buttigieg has clearly seen the light and is ready to embrace the change. He probably feels as if he doesn’t have much choice. There’s absolutely no denying that Mayor Pete came out of the gate strong and very quickly rose well above the background noise level where at least 15 candidates are stuck. But after that initial surge, it became equally clear that he’d hit some sort of a ceiling as a solid second-tier contender.

Don’t get me wrong. That’s still a pretty impressive performance, but it doesn’t position you within striking distance of Joe Biden. Heck, even Bernie Sanders is starting to fade and the Biden momentum continues to grow. But as I was saying while kicking this around with a couple of friends on Twitter this morning, Buttigieg needs to be patient. This is a marathon, not a sprint. After the first round of debates, I’m willing to bet that a significant number of 1% and below people will drop out if they don’t see a significant uptick in their numbers in the following days. And when they do, their supporters will have to go somewhere. If Mayor Pete just keeps active in all the early states, keeps up his fundraising and earned media spots, he’ll have the chance of consolidating some of that scattered support.

And if not, he can always hold a press conference and propose that we tear down the Jefferson Memorial. That should be good for another five points in the polls overnight.