- Democrats turn-out lower than expected
- But let’s hear it for the Iowa Democrats! They’ve demonstrated how their party will run the country if given the chance!
- Republican events reported timely, with more attendance than expected
Now two days after the event, when all the contenders have left for New Hampshire – who is going to care by the time the Democrats find enough cypherers to count the results and release the totals?
From preliminary information that we have read Comm-Simp Sanders probably won the actually vote tally in spite of Buttigieg‘s quick claim to overall victory.
The Dems Iowa caucus system requires thresholds and a process of realigning allowing some candidates to be “viable” going forward into the caucus evening by having supporters of lesser candidates not meeting the threshold “aligning” with a different one to make that one viable or as a matter of next best preference.
During the initial vote tallying numbers are reported and once it is all finished final numbers indicating delegate strength to the ongoing conventions and ultimate nomination, are released.
Regrettably for the Democrat owned and operated public education system in Iowa, not enough people were present to understand directions, count accurately, and initiate the (we presume) back-up plan of phoning in the results by voice. A big part of the delay, only aggravated by revelations, might be that the candidate representatives responsible for verifying and reporting the results, actually distrust one another, so it becomes a cat-hurd process.
Too bad. This is two times in a row for Dems here screwing up, or screwing the presidential nomination process. They might have blown it at least for Democrats recognizing and Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status.
One interesting aspect is that delegate strength only roughly corresponds to supporters in attendance. We note some preliminary figures indicated that some candidates had significant higher percentages of supporters at the caucuses than indicated by percentage of delegate strength awarded. Given that much of the Democrat Party says the Electoral College must go in favor of pure democracy in action, Buttigieg one candidate in particular, isn’t it ironic that he claims “victory” based on delegate estimates rather than having more people present than Bernie. Isn’t it also ironic that a party so devoted to pure democracy maintains a non-democratic system for its own affairs.
Bernie, they are screwing you again. But don’t be too stressed. They will still produce a socialist, even if not in name.
Republican caucuses in Scott County
Our participation in our own Republican precinct caucus was gratifying. We have experienced just about every such caucus since they started, chairing several including this one. Attendance was more than expected, twice as much as I expected. It was because of the desire to turn out for Trump even though there was little opposition The system went smoothly including the requirement for photo ID’s. The attendees all stayed for the duration which included producing 20 platform recommendations in our precinct. Ear-to-the-ground reports that came our way included similar descriptions, although at least one precincts reported that opportunity for platform input was subverted.
Trump received 97+% of the votes at the caucuses in spite of a libertarian candidate or two being announced and plenty of Never-Trump media.
*thanks to TN for forwarding graphic. **”sanding the rails“, for you youngsters, refers to placing sand on the rails for locomotive traction
