Iowa caucus lets down Dems
Trump calls it an ‘unmitigated disaster’ as Sanders and Buttigieg both claim victory
Washington: US Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed victory on Tuesday in the Iowa caucuses although party officials have yet to release any official results from a vote plagued by technical problems. “We were able to demonstrate both the winning message and the winning organisation,” the former mayor said.
Des Moines (US), Feb. 4: Democratic party officials in Iowa worked furiously Tuesday to deliver the delayed results of their first-in-the-nation caucus, as frustrated presidential candidates claimed momentum and plowed ahead in their quest for the White House.
Technology problems and reporting “inconsistencies” kept Iowa Democratic Party officials from releasing results from Monday’s caucus, the much-hyped kickoff to the 2020 primary. It was an embarrassing twist after months of promoting the contest as a chance for Democrats to find some clarity in a jumbled field with no clear front-runner. Instead, caucus day ended with no winner, no official results and many fresh questions about whether Iowa can retain its coveted “first” status.
State party officials said final results would be released later Tuesday and offered assurances that the problem was not a result of a “hack or an intrusion”.
“It looks like it’s going to be a long night, but we’re feeling good,” former vicepresident Joe Biden said, suggesting the final results would “be close”. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said he had “a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa” once results were posted. “Today marks the beginning of the end for Donald
Trump,” he predicted. “Listen, it’s too close to call,” Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said. “The road won’t be easy. But we are built for the long haul.” And Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was most certain. “So we don’t know all the results, but we know by the time it’s all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation,” he said. “By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
Democrats faced the possibility that whatever numbers they ultimately released would be questioned.
And beyond 2020, critics began wondering aloud whether the Iowa caucuses, a complicated set of political meetings staged in a state that is whiter and older than the Democratic Party, are a tradition whose time had past. Des Moines County Democratic Chair Tom Courtney said the new app created “a mess”.
Pre-caucus polls suggested Sanders entered the night with a narrow lead, but any of the top four candidates — Sanders, Biden, Warren and Buttigieg — was positioned to score a victory.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump on Tuesday took a jibe at the Opposition Democrats, describing as an “unmitigated disaster” their failure to publish the results from the voting in Iowa.
Reacting to the chaos and confusion in the
Democratic Party, Trump, in an early morning tweet, said: “The Democrat Caucus is an unmitigated disaster. Nothing works, just like they ran the Country. Remember the 5 Billion Dollar Obamacare Website, that should have cost 2% of that.”
“The only person that can claim a very big victory in Iowa last night is ‘Trump’,” he added.
Earlier, the Trump campaign also mocked the delay on Twitter.
— Agencies