Iowa Democratic vote-reporting meltdown hands opening to Trump

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

The Democratic 2020 crusade to oust President Donald Trump could not have got off to a more disastrous and embarrassing start.

The party couldn't even deliver a first-in-the-nation election night winner after a vote-reporting debacle in Iowa — where candidates spent months and millions of dollars vying for a glittering opening prize in their nominating duel.

"Iowa, you have shocked the nation," said former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg. It was a bold attempt to declare victory in the absence of a result, but the 38-year-old inadvertently cast an ironic judgment on a political train wreck.

The big Hawkeye State miss will be agonizing for whoever comes out on top but for any candidates who under performed -- perhaps former Vice President Joe Biden -- it might turn into a priceless lifeline.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/04/politics/election-2020-iowa-caucuses-democrats-donald-trump/index.html

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I have never seen anything like this. Hopefully, this all gets sorted out by later this morning at the latest.

[lapfog_1]

1. if Joe did under perform

then the entire Trump adventure in Ukraine actually did pay off for the Orange Turdpile. Even though they never even announced an investigation, Trump has had the media put it in people's heads that Joe and his son did something wrong in Ukraine.

Just wait, if the "front runner" from tonight's fiasco is Bernie... you will hear nothing but "he's a commie" and it is Warren "Pocahontas" and if it is Pete "something something gay something something".

Sigh.

[SunSeeker]

2. Remember when the Iowa Repubs said Romney won, then took it back.

Being slow on the results is better than being wrong on the results.

Mitt Romney was named the winner of the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus shortly after 1:30 a.m. on caucus night. According to those middle-of-the-night results, he had bested rival Rick Santorum by just eight votes — until a recount weeks later shows Santorum won. https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2020/02/04/when-have-past-iowa-caucus-results-been-announced/4652797002/

[ancianita]

3. And that result wasn't hyped as some essential flaw with the Republican Party, or

something "hacked" or "corrupt" or "incompetent."

We took in the process as humans sorting out the most honest result.

At least back then.

We're going to have to keep media in line about their whole "perfect being the enemy of the good" bias against all things Democratic.

We don't need any more hype, hackery, or cynicism passing as wisdom.

[LittleGirl]

4. It's time to end caucuses

One person, one vote. Like the rest of the states.

[rpannier]

5. Kudos to Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann on this one issue

per Quad City Times

Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann implored Americans to be patient while Iowa Democrats sort out the caucus results. “Accuracy is so much more important (than timely reporting),” Kaufmann said during an interview on WHO-TV in Des Moines. “This is transparent. The entire world is going to be able to check these numbers and audit these results. … Accuracy should take precedence here.”

[EarthFirst]

6. Oh that's delicious...

Suddenly transparency in the voting process is of upmost importance.

[rpannier]

7. Yeah. But in this case he was defending the Democratic Party of Iowa

He was not criticizing the Party

[She_Totally_Gets_It]

11. Don't trust ANY Republican! He's playing a game.

Head fuck!

[DeminPennswoods]

8. It was really interesting watching the caucus goers

and seeing the process in action. I found it actually pretty cool. But, what it is in a nutshell is ranked choice voting, only done in person instead of on the ballot. I think an easy fix for Iowa is to do a ranked-choice primary. That would achieve the same result, but with a lot less confusion.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

9. This could be a good outcome for Iowa. Maybe in four years, ...

... the Dem Party will conduct a "normal" primary vote.

Of course, they'll still need a system to report and accumulate results.

[rockfordfile]

10. That's some desperate right-wing spin. LOL A app causes some delay.

[She_Totally_Gets_It]

12. GET RID OF CAUCUSES!!

[gldstwmn]

13. We should be paying careful attention to this

instead of being fixated on who won.

[DavidDvorkin]

14. We shouldn't overreact

It's an embarrassment, but mainly to the Iowa Democratic Party. The press and the public will forget about this quickly as more and more state primary results accumulate.

[sandensea]

15. He handed it to himself

What are the chances those computers weren't hacked by Putin, Rove - or some other dark money-funded outfit.