Iowa balks on caucus counting
Iowa Dem officials say “quality checks” slowing results
DES MOINES, Iowa — Voting began across Iowa on Monday night as Democrats balanced their desire for fundamental change with their craving to defeat President Donald Trump in the opening contest of the 2020 presidential primary season.
Candidates gave last-minute pep talks and pitches, while hundreds of volunteers activated statewide to win the famed Iowa caucuses.
Nearly a dozen White House contenders were still vying for the chance to take on Trump in November, although Iowa’s firstin-the-nation caucuses were expected to provide some clarity for what has been a muddled nomination fight for much of the last year.
As the evening caucuses opened their doors, there were signs of major enthusiasm. Outside Iowa City’s Englert Theatre, long lines stretched a block in two directions. Organizers bracing for a large turnout opened the balcony for extra seating and warned early arrivals to expect delays.
By day’s end, tens of thousands of Democrats were to have gathered at community centers, high school gyms and more than 1,600 other caucus locations in the premiere of more than 50 contests that will unfold over the
next five months. The caucuses were rendering the first verdict on what the party stands for in the age of Trump — and who it feels is best positioned to take on the Republican president, whom Democratic voters are desperate to beat this fall.
One unsurprising development: Trump won the Republican caucus, a largely symbolic victory given that he faced no significant opposition.
For the Democrats, the moment was thick with promise for a Party that has seized major gains since Trump won the White House in 2016.
But instead of clear optimism, a cloud of uncertainty and deepening intraparty resentment hung over Monday’s election as the prospect of an unclear result raised fears of a long and divisive primary fight in the months ahead.
“I’m the one who can pull our party together,” Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren told supporters Monday on a telephone town hall, taking an indirect dig at her rivals. “I’m the one who is going to pull us all in to give us the ideas that we can all run on. The one who says both inspiration and inclusiveness.”
Polls suggest that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders might have a narrow lead, but any of the top four candidates — Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden, Warren and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg — could score victory in Iowa’s unpredictable and quirky caucus system as organizers prepare for record turnout.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who represents neighboring Minnesota, was also claiming momentum, while outsider candidates such as entrepreneur Andrew Yang, billionaire activist Tom Steyer and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard could be factors.
By midday Monday, a handful of satellite caucuses had already taken place — some thousands of miles away from Iowa. In Glasgow, Scotland, Sanders received the most support from the 19 caucusgoers who attended, while Warren came in second and Buttigieg came in third. No other candidates were viable.
In Iowa, some 200,000 voters were expected.
The four senators in the field left Iowa late Sunday to return to the Capitol for the impeachment trial, but did what they could to keep their campaigns going from Washington. While Warren held her telephone town hall, Klobuchar’s husband and daughter appeared at a canvass launch in Des Moines.
Back in Iowa, the three remaining candidates — Biden, Buttigieg and Yang — revved up supporters at campaign offices across Des Moines.
In suburban Des Moines, Buttigieg delivered about 100 volunteers a last shot of encouragement before they stepped out into the chill to knock on doors for him around midday Monday.
“We are exactly where we need to be to astonish the political world,” he said, igniting cheers for the 38-year-old former midsizecity mayor, who was an asterisk a year ago and is now among the top candidates.
Meanwhile, Biden and his wife, Jill, delivered pizza Monday to a few dozen volunteers working the phones at his south Des Moines field office.
“I feel good,” he said as he walked in, sporting his signature aviator sunglasses.
He stopped short of predicting victory. “I hope so,” he replied when asked whether he’d win the caucuses.
Meanwhile, ultra-billionaire Mike Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City, is running a parallel campaign that ignores Iowa as he prepares to pounce on any perceived weaknesses in the field come March.
The amalgam of oddities, including new rules for reporting the already complicated caucus results, is building toward what could be a murky Iowa finale before the race pivots quickly to New Hampshire, which votes just eight days later.