The Democratic race in the Iowa Caucuses was so close Monday night that several precincts had to pick the victor by flipping a coin.
Advertisement
A second hiccup-if his poll lead in New Hampshire fails to translate into votes-could spell political disaster for the man who built his personal brand on the concept of winning, and has always said being second was tantamount to being nowhere.
Trump showed little concern Tuesday. “I intend to do that”, Clinton told CNN after the results.
‘We’ve got a real fight on our hands, and we’re all going to need to pitch in to win this nomination, ‘she said.
The voters at the Iowa caucuses have thrown the cat among the pigeons.
When the dust settled tonight, Trump had under-performed expectations he would pull 31% of the vote, instead clocking 24%, barely ahead of Rubio’s 23%, and about 5,000 voters shy of Cruz’s 28%.
Ted Cruz, who has repeatedly said that the primary has come down to a two-man race between him and Donald Trump, did not dismiss on Tuesday the idea that the race may in fact be a three-man race.
The retired neurosurgeon, who said his fourth-place performance in Iowa would have been better had the email never been sent, criticized the move as “a dirty trick” and said the Cruz campaign should face some kind of consequences.
Yet those two pools of voters each made up about the same proportion of the Iowa GOP electorate, making the results a net loss for Trump. It’s immeasurably improved the quality of the Democratic debate, forced Ms. Clinton out of her comfort zone, gotten her to embrace more ambitious economic proposals than her instincts might otherwise have dictated, is engaging more young voters in the process and might ultimately impact the convention in a positive way for Democrats.
In truth, Iowa’s delegate allotment is tiny compared with those of the big states to come.
Those numbers together suggest Trump must improve both in delivering his identified supporters and in swaying undecided voters.
Cruz’s win provided a twist worthy of the topsy-turvy race.
A potential avenue for Trump success could be in attracting new voters. But among previous caucus participants, Cruz held a 32 percent to 19 percent advantage.
The question remains whether the dispute will hurt Cruz, a favorite of conservative evangelicals looking to win over Carson supporters should Carson drop out.
Sanders had hoped to replicate Obama’s pathway to the presidency by using a victory in Iowa to catapult his passion and ideals of “democratic socialism” deep into the primaries.
“Media gets hung up on ‘What happens if you lose this and if you win this?’ And, ‘If Hillary Clinton had lost in Iowa would it have been the end of the world?’ No, it wouldn’t have”.
Despite facing a formidable Obama coalition backed by significant donors and establishment support, Clinton’s support was also broad and competitive – and is even more so today as she enters a contest far less contentious with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.
Anderson Cooper will kick off coverage at 8 p.m. with 360, and the Town Hall will air on CNN from 9 p.m.to 11 p.m. ET live from Derry, New Hampshire. Tim Scott, the only African-American Republican in the Senate.
Advertisement
That is, in part, because of the complicated way Iowa Democrats allocate their delegates – and what was being reported on election night and what wasn’t.
