On Tuesday evening, I tweeted out “so wait did we ever find out who won the Iowa Caucus” because A) I really didn’t know if it had been announced and B) I thought it would be a funny joke because by Tuesday evening, it felt like everyone had already moved on. The newscycle is so frenetic these days, so who even knows at this point? I kept waiting to see the blaring headline of “WhatsHisGuts Won Iowa” and that headline never came. Now it’s Thursday morning and… we still don’t have a winner?? OH MY GOD. Here are the latest highlights from the NYT:
Pete Buttigieg’s slim lead in the Iowa caucus results evaporated overnight. The Iowa Democratic Party released another batch of results late Wednesday night, and with 97 percent of precincts reported, Mr. Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were in a near tie.
The position of the other top contenders — Elizabeth Warren in third and Joseph R. Biden Jr. in fourth — has not changed.
It’s not clear when the rest of the results will be known, and with the margin so narrow, it’s also hard to tell when a winner will be able to be declared.
Meanwhile, the New Hampshire primary campaign is in full swing. Four of the Democratic candidates appeared on CNN on Wednesday night for town-hall-style programs broadcast from Manchester.
My question: will this shambolic catastrophe finally be the end to Iowa’s nonsensical political significance? No offense to Iowans, but our American political system cannot continue to rest on local corn politics and deeply flawed caucuses. If Iowa wants to be important, I say… make them the sole caucus-system state on Super Tuesday. That way they still get to be “early” in the primary season but we don’t have to waste all of this time and energy pretending like Iowa is representative of the current state of American politics. And we don’t have to sit here, days later, waiting for results of the But What Do White Folks Think caucus. Lord.
As for Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders now being neck-and-neck… I don’t even want to comment. I’ll just say that the results would have been a lot different if the “first state” to vote had more racial diversity. Also: Joe Biden in fourth, YIKES for him.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Caucuses are just a bad way to do this. Too hard for many people to vote. Looks like Bernie has the most votes but because Iowa distributes delegates in an electoral college like fashion, privileging rural areas over cities, Pete ties with the delegates. Some were decided by a coin toss and some realignments were structured to keep the winner from getting more than one delegate. Sounds like a flop and we just need to move on.
“Some were decided by a coin toss”
I saw one of those coin tosses that was the worst and most blatant cheating I have ever witnessed. And no one witnessing it live said a word.
I think this tie makes evident the problem with the Democratic Party: half of it wants a centrist, the other half wants to go full-left. And because each side views the other position as so extreme, nobody will cede an inch of ground. This is 2016 all over again.
I actually dont think it indicates anything. How can a state with such little diversity and only 11% of its citizens actually showing up to caucus be an indicator of anything? This simply proves how utterly meaningless the Iowa Caucus is and that we need to just do away with it.
2016 again but this time the ‘populist with the super passionate base’ will be a leftist. Sanders can very well do the same thing as Trump by having a small but loyal fanbase running over everyone. Trump being acquitted by the Senate is the last draw. Trump proved that the minority can rule the majority.
Center Dems will remain passive and continue to appease Republicans and Independents who will reject them and kick them in the face.
The Democratic party is at the head of the cultural shift, that’s why. Republicans are united under fear masked as conservatism. The latter is far easier to utilize as a tool for conformity and “togetherness” because it allows you to designate a focused Other to resent and destroy.
The fact that so many celebrities are still a part of this cult is disgusting. Wrong post sorry lol! Im on my phone. 😩
Wait, the Democratic party is a cult? Did you mean to post this comment on the Scientology article? If not, your comment’s hilarious.
Oh! Just saw your clarification! LOL!
This is so embarrassing for the Democratic Party.
Classic case of overpromise and underdeliver. Imagine having the eyes of the nation on you and you decide to rely on rushed, untested technology. SMH.
Bernie Sanders has a large POC support base. Just saying.
Wow, I’m always hearing how bad he is on race, to say nothing of his class> race base.
@Bonnehomme Carnaval You are correct. I don’t even know where OP is getting this large POC base from. Compared to whom? Buttigieg?
It’s true Bernie has more POC supporters than Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren. Bernie’s voters are younger, and poorer. The media is lazy and just likes a narrative. Remember ‘economic anxiety’ used for old white voters afraid of the ‘Browning of America’?
https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/12/sanders-warren-voters-2020-1408548
https://www.vox.com/2019/3/7/18216899/bernie-sanders-bro-base-polling-2020-president
Bernie’s support among people of colour is another Bernie Team lie. They can’t win, so they have to lie.
He does better among people of colour than, like, the people who have no support among POC. That’s about it.
caucusing is stupid. primaries should be ranked voting until there are only 2 candidates left. its really not that hard.
Exactly.
Even if Joe comes in last, I think we should all mentally prepare for him to get the nom because…that’s how it was already decided to be. This whole thing has become a joke and embarrassment already.
What? A bit of conspiracy theory with your brunch?
Enough already.
I think you are absolutely right. The DNC already knows who the candidate will be (Biden). People who think this is a real democracy are naive. Sure it is to some degree but not a total democracy like we like to think it is.
And how’s that arrangement happening? What is the method by which the DNC already knows the candidate? Do you even know, concretely?
These days, I really don’t mind election results taking a long time and being checked endlessly. If we had had something like a four-day tabulation period in place in 2000, we might’ve been spared Bush instead of everyone rushing to anoint him president because we need an answer RIGHT NOW. I am beyond jaded this cycle, so one of these candidates is interchangeable with the next; I only care about Trump losing and/or Dems reclaiming the Senate. But I will say, I am already sick of the Bernie conspiracy theorists claiming election robbery when they just dont understand the (admittedly dumb) caucus system. And seeing Biden go on the attack immediately just tells me he cares about beating Trump only if it’s his name on the ballot. Gtfo Biden. Burn it all down and let’s start over.
Nooooo!!!! Come on back!! The candidates are nothing alike (though I share your exhaustion with this whole bit). A palate cleanser: Elizabeth Warren’s willingness to admit she will make mistakes (here she is talking about outreach to the African American community with the African American community) and how she’s surrounding herself with people who will tell her when she’s messed up and help her improve. That’s what I want. I want reflection. I want correction. I want diplomacy and intellect.
What if the people telling her she messed up and need to improve are bad actors? How do we decide who is right vs who is just popular? We need a Lincoln here.
The GOP absolutely LOVE that Bernie supporters are turning on the democrats running. I’d be willing to bet the fuss made on Twitter are bolstered by Russian bots.
I remember liking Bernie in 2015, then I found out about all the shady stuff him and his campaign were involved in. Tad Devine, several campaign workers being far right agents, him not releasing his tax returns, him appearing on rt, his wife being investigated for fraud, etc. The list goes on and on.
By now, you’d think people would wisen up but they are still ignorant as ever. Smh.
Your words could be back from 2016 but flipped and applied to Hillary. There were a lot of people who said they used to like her until they heard this and that on the internet.
There is no perfect candidate. Change can’t happen if we sit around waiting for the one perfect candidate to come along. Change is like chipping away at a wall. If allowing a tyrant to continue because you don’t like every little thing about a candidate is too much to handle, please don’t vote and please don’t contribute to the conversation. We don’t need apathy. If you do care, vote for the candidate that receives the nomination.
Yeah, Bernie is a damn mess. The difference between people believing bad stuff about him and bad stuff about Hillary is that the bad stuff about Bernie tends to be true. The guy doesn’t put in the work and wants accolades.
What I read from ADOS Americans during the last primary season was that caucuses by their structure are weighted towards people who have the resources to sit around a gym and dominate a public space, which tends to favour one sex and one race and a certain income level over…others.
It’s the policies, Stupid.