After a dramatic night in Iowa, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s campaign claimed a slim victory over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in Iowa’s Democratic Caucuses.
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In other words, unless Sanders concedes or the state Democratic Party certifies the results, the race is still too close to call in the view of the Associated Press.
Clinton became the first woman to win a presidential primary in 2008 when she mounted a come-back victory over Barack Obama in 2008.
“We are going to unify this party, and we are going to unify the conservative movement”, Rubio said Monday.
The Polk County Democratic Party chair, Tom Henderson, said he was frustrated that some precincts in his county had failed to report results in a timely fashion.
The situation came about in precincts where Sanders and Clinton were running neck-and-neck, but there were an odd number of delegates, so they couldn’t be evenly split between the two. With her advantage in superdelegates – the party officials who can support the candidate of their choice – Clinton now has a total of 385 delegates. In every case, Clinton’s side won by calling the correct side of a coin.
While the few delegates decided by coin toss Monday night had a minimal impact on the overall results, the razor-thin gap between first and second place meant every head counted for both Democratic candidates.
“As I stand here tonight, breathing a big sigh of relief – thank you, Iowa”, Clinton said.
The reality is that Clinton and Sanders did as Sanders put it, “virtually tie”.
Donald Trump’s bid to become US President is in crisis after he was crushed by bitter rival Ted Cruz in the first major contest of the race to the White House. “Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across the state of Iowa and across this great nation”, Cruz told his supporters.
“So when Senator Rubio gets here, the boy in the bubble gets here, I hope you guys ask him some questions because the time for him to start answering questions”, he said.
Polling data had Trump pegged as the victor, so a Cruz victory was an upset for many predictions. And while Trump beat Rubio in Iowa, placing second, his performance in Iowa was not as solid as recent polls suggested. There are three delegates still to be awarded.
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Meanwhile, the Democrats had an even tighter race than their Republican counterparts. In CNN’s most recent poll, Trump has a 25 point lead over Cruz in New Hampshire.
