Iowa’s caucuses have been botched before, though with less chaos than this time around
USUALLY THE results of the Iowa caucuses are announced an hour or so after members of the public huddle in community halls, school gymnasia and classrooms across the state, to say who they want to be their party’s nominee. This matters. If recent history is any guide, the winner can expect to be nominated by their party’s national convention in the summer.
The failure is in part due to new rules introduced this year. Never before were organisers expected to publish tallies of how many people caucused for each candidate: that added extra complexity. In West Elementary school hall in Independence, in the north-east of the state, caucus-goers were also puzzled when instructed, for the first time, to complete “presidential preference cards”, in addition to standing in huddles signifying their choice of candidate.
Accurate results this time should come sooner: they were promised at “some time” on February 4th. But that still leaves candidates, after more than a year of campaigning, and about $40m spent on television advertisements in Iowa alone, scrambling to make the most of the confusion. Two of them—Bernie Sanders, a senator from Vermont, and Pete Buttigieg, a former mayor from Indiana—gave speeches that came close to claiming success.
Another Democratic contender could also be pleased. Michael Bloomberg, a billionaire former mayor of New York, entered the race late and chose to skip the elections in the first four states, including Iowa. He will focus on Super Tuesday, in early March, where his hefty spending on television advertising has more impact across lots of states, including California, the biggest prize of all.
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