Statewide Iowa — With 97-percent of precincts now reporting, the Iowa Democrat Presidential Caucus race is still too close to call.
The latest results show a near tie between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in the delegate race. Buttigieg is ahead by just one-tenth of a percent — or FOUR state delegate equivalents. During a conference call with donors and supporters after 7 p.m. Wednesday, Buttigieg referred to “historic success in Iowa” for his campaign, but Buttigieg’s campaign manager predicted the race would get tighter.
Sanders’ campaign called the delayed results “deeply frustrating” and pointed to Sanders’ lead in the so-called “popular vote” in Iowa. Sanders has a chance to take the lead in delegates, too, if results from satellite caucus locations go his way. At last report, the Iowa Democratic Party announced the results from 53 precincts are still under review and one precinct’s results are still “in transit.” It appears some precinct chairs sent their paper records to the party via the U.S. Postal Service.
The developer of the smartphone app for reporting results on Caucus night told Bloomberg News he feels “really terrible” that his company’s coding threw the process into disarray. Bloomberg News also is reporting the back-up telephone line for calling in results was flooded with calls from Trump supporters who found the hotline number on documents posted online.
