What the Hell is Going On in Iowa?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

It’s Thursday afternoon, the Iowa caucuses ended Monday night, and we still do not know who won. Here’s the precious little that we do know:

Who won?

Like I said, we don’t know. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is leading in the popular vote, banking 44,753 votes to former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s 42,235. Sanders and Buttigieg are tied in pledged delegates, 11 a piece. And Buttigieg is narrowly leading Sanders in state delegate equivalents — 550 to Sanders’ 547 — the metric that has historically gauged success in the Iowa caucuses.

Sanders might soon eclipse Buttigieg in SDEs, too, thanks to his strong performance in satellite caucuses. Satellite sites are designed to accommodate voters who can’t make it to regular caucus sites. Satellite voting took place in 87 locations this year, both inside of Iowa, at nursing homes and rehab centers, and outside: in far-flung locations where permanent residents of the state happen to be — from freelance journalists and skiers in Tbilisi, Georgia, to snowbirds who have escaped Iowa’s punishing winters for balmy Palm Springs, California. The Intercept reports that a big bet on satellite caucuses, which are new this year, was always part of the Sanders campaign’s plan to win Iowa.

Sanders went ahead and declared victory in Iowa from New Hampshire on Thursday. “That screw-up has been extremely unfair to the people of Iowa, it has been unfair to the candidate, all of the candidates, and all of their supporters. So, what I want to do today, three days late, is to thank the people of Iowa for the very strong victory they gave us in the Iowa caucuses,” he said. Buttigieg has also declared victory. He did it first on Monday night, telling a crowd of supporters in Des Moines, “Iowa, you have shocked the nation — because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.” He hedged in an interview the following morning, saying it was “a clear victory” simply to “reach the position that we did.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/iowa-caucus-democratic-primary-chaos-948677/

[MontanaMama]

1. If NH doesn't go like

clockwork...something bigger is going on. Are they using an app up there?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. NH is a primary and not a caucus, so it *should* be a little more normal.

But nothing is normal these days.

[MontanaMama]

3. I guess I knew that...

Fingers crossed it’s more “normal.”

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. No

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287483044

[Wellstone ruled]

4. When you run a Caucus without Training

Caucus leaders ,now just what could go wrong.