...but the same thing happened with Santorum in 2012. Their goal was to deny Santorum the momentum going into NH that the Iowa win would have given him.
It's likely that this is what Team Clinton, Andy "license plate" McGuire and the rest of the Iowa Democratic Party were going for.
If you watch the results coming in on caucus night, you see Clinton ahead. That was expected, due to the rural and smaller precincts finishing their caucuses before the urban and college towns--that handily broke for Bernie.
So, the numbers gap keeps dwindling and Bernie's numbers keep going up. Until the very end. Then, everything stops. Clinton is declared the winner, even with remaining precincts that haven't reported numbers.
Then, you've got a razor-thin win for Clinton and an Iowa Democratic party, led by License Plate, who refuses any sort of audit or examination of the results, AT ALL.
I think they thought they could get away with it. I think they flipped some numbers, in Clinton's favor--as the only way to cover up what happened. They hoped that no one would notice. That has failed.
I think the IDP, headed by "License Plate", stole the caucus from Bernie outright. They then flipped numbers, thinking that no one would call them on it. And if they were called on it, they didn't think much attention would be paid. They didn't anticipate the entire Des Moines Register Editorial Board declaring a farce.
Regardless of all of this, Clinton gets the benefit of denying Bernie the momentum of winning the caucuses going forward. That's huge. They probably consider that a success. Sadly, it is. Just like with Santorum in 2012. The problem is, that Bernie is going to win NH unlike Santorum. Bernie is ahead 7 points more than Obama was in NV at this time--and Obama won more delegates in 08. The handwriting is on the wall.
One fallout of all of this is something people aren't really discussing. The Clinton camp came into Iowa and totally fatfucked our caucuses. People can make fun of how odd and quirky they are. However, this is a transparent vote by show of hands. We didn't have widespread, horrific mayhem in any other caucus year. In 2008 when he had record turnout, there were no problems. This year, there were 100+ precincts that were unstaffed with a Precinct Chair. The Iowa Democratic Party is responsible for having PCs at each precinct. There was widespread cheating, antics and bullshit that went on that never went on before.
We all know how Hillary and the establishment feels about caucuses. They're "creatures of the extreme" don't you know. The attendees lean left, especially in Iowa. You can't steal a caucus as easily as you can steal the voting machines. What they did required a lot of effort.
I think they're attempting to destroy caucuses and replace our primary with a one-day primary. This would favor establishment candidates with more dirty corporate money, rendering it impossible for a Sanders or Obama candidate to ever win. It would be the candidate with the most PAC money and voters would decide based on television ads, not candidate interaction.
That's what's at stake here. Iowa is a firewall. We run these candidates through the paces. Iowa doesn't necessarily have to be first. However, a smaller state with a caucus should be one of the first. America needs to get close to these candidates and give everyone a shot. That can't be accomplished with a multi-state primary.
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