![]() Already, her supporters are fanning out across cable news overselling the win and reinforcing the sense that Team Clinton is disconnected from reality. Clinton caucus contest, democracy won: Rekha BasuĬlinton simply can’t go around talking about her “win” in Iowa without seeming ungracious and grasping. Every time she tries, it will, by the very nature of that victory, seem like spin. According to The New York Times, her “advisers said they did not know if a significant staff shakeup was at hand, but they said that the Clintons were disappointed with Monday night’s result and wanted to ensure that her organization, political messaging and communications strategy were in better shape for the contests to come.” That’s not exactly William Wallace in Braveheart shouting of victory. But saying so requires lawyerly qualifications and caveats.Įveryone knows this “win” was nothing to brag about. Maybe she'd even cry again, like she did in Portsmouth, N.H., in ’08, earning the sympathy vote. Instead, she won Iowa this time. If she lost decisively, as she did in Iowa in 2008, she'd have the option of playing the victim. In fact, the nature of this victory will probably bring out the worst in Clinton. Sanders' supporters won’t even make that concession, bitterly complaining about irregularities and, again, coins that seemed to be in Clinton’s pocket, figuratively speaking.Ī crushing defeat would have been worse for Clinton, of course. The margin of victory in the delegate count was decided by six coin tosses that “flip truthers” will forever remember as mysteriously biased toward Clinton.Ĭlinton raced to the podium to declare victory, but the news media will continue to describe it as a tie, probably forever. Still, Sanders faces significant challenges when the Democratic nominating contest moves to the more diverse states of Nevada and South Carolina before expanding to 11 states on March 1, “Super Tuesday,” including seven in the South where Clinton’s advantage with African-American voters could begin to pay off.As of this writing, the result was a statistical tie, 49.9% for Clinton and 49.6% for Bernie Sanders. But 75 percent of his haul came from donations of $200 or less, in contrast to only 18 percent of Clinton’s, and far more of Clinton’s donors have hit the $2,700 donation limit. Entrance polls of Iowa caucus-goers showed 68 percent described themselves as very or somewhat liberal.įundraising figures reported on Sunday by Sanders underscored the extent to which his campaign has grown into a popular movement.Ĭlinton has raised more than Sanders - her campaign brought in $109 million last year compared to his $73.5 million. Iowa was a good state to test that message, given the heavy liberal bent of the Democratic activists who dominate the caucus process. Slideshow ( 8 images ) A POPULAR MOVEMENT The race was so tight that several precincts were forced to decide whether Clinton or Sanders got the winning votes - and one more delegate - by a coin toss, following the state Democratic Party’s advice. Into the early hours of Tuesday morning, Clinton and Sanders remained separated by less than a single percentage point. While the race in Iowa had tightened in recent weeks, her aides had appeared to draw some confidence from a Des Moines Register/Bloomberg politics poll over the weekend that showed Clinton with a three-percentage-point lead over Sanders among likely caucus-goers. They stood alongside her instead, with Bill Clinton wearing his campaign logo badge upside-down.Īides removed the TelePrompter at the last minute, supporters at the Drake University rally told Reuters, in a further indication of last-minute changes in plans. With no clear victory to announce, Clinton’s campaign scrapped a plan to have her daughter Chelsea and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, introduce her. ![]()
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