The chairman of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday called for a recanvass of the results of the Iowa caucuses, potentially delaying yet again the results in the first-in-the-nation presidential contest.
Tom Perez just invalidated the Iowa caucuses. He should back it up by a threat not to seat the IA delegates at the convention. In doing so, he might’ve killed the Pete Buttigieg candidacy.
This also denies Bernie an opportunity to declare a victory as it appeared he might take the lead through the satellite caucuses. However, since Team Bernie is almost single mindedly focused on this count for the purposes of generating fundraising and buzz, it might be the case (as Nate Cohn suggested) that the remaining non-Satellite caucus sites favor Buttigieg and he might not actually get into the State Delegate Equivalent lead. He may instead want a recount to address tabulation errors. Bernie may now turn his full attention to maximizing a win out of NH and draw the buzz factor from that (decent chance of doing that).
There’s a mild reprieve for Elizabeth Warren, whose campaign seriously underperformed, but she isn’t getting the scrutiny that Biden is getting. For Biden, turning the page to NH is the most important thing which he did well yesterday. A good debate on Friday which propels him to a second place finish will probably be his best possible outcome.
So glad there are paper ballots that can be re-counted! Think how horrible a mess we would be in now, had we not paper ballots.
The idea that everyone needed to know the totals immediately is what got us into this mess.
I’m happy to wait. Counting paper ballots doesn’t take that long.
As much as I despise Sanders and agree that IA Dem party should be punished, it’s ridiculous if DNC try to put its thumb on the scale to help Biden so blatantly by following your suggestions. The backfires and damage to the party for years to come will be horrible.
Tom Perez made a public announcement which in effect says he doesn’t have confidence in the result as currently tabulated. It is what it is. If confidence in the vote count matters, then you do a recount/recanvass. If IA Dem Party refuses to do it, you don’t seat the delegates. DNC has issued penalties like that before. The reason Perez went public is because the IA Dem Party has not reached an agreement with the DNC on this.
I also don’t believe Perez would’ve made this statement without a nod an approval from Team Sanders.
In this particular case, paper ballots aren’t a big help. Read the NYT article linked in the TPM article about what happened at the caucus sites. It’s the tabulation of the paper ballots caucus goers turned in, that’s flawed in many cases.
Precinct organizers put results in wrong columns, counted people who showed up after the first ballot (which they shouldn’t have), and made simple math errors. A re-canvassing might fix a math error or wrong column here or there, but it can’t fix all those problems.
Looks like IA Dem party and DNC have some disconnection. It would be hilarious if Perez turned out to be hailed by Team Sanders as hero (if he got their nod before issuing the statement).
Iowa is the most overrated state in the entirety of primaries. Fuck it
Perez just doesn’t seem to grasp the fact that the damage to the validity of IA is done. The bell cannot be unrung. The taint will never be washed away. This was a calculated move to give the false impression that Buttigieg won; it’s simply not true. But, as they say, “Perception is reality”. The DNC simply doesn’t want Bernie as the candidate and nothing will be spared in the effort to kill off his chances.
And as I have posted a couple times in other threads,on Monday night and Tuesday morning the Iowa Democratic Party Chair insisted that it was strictly a reporting issue. Apparently not.
Perez issued that statement because he couldn’t get an agreement with IA Dem Party on doing a re-canvas and the details of it. Bernie is the only one who cares about IA at this point so I don’t think he would’ve done any of that without getting his approval.
The DNC simply doesn’t want Bernie as the candidate and nothing will be spared in the effort to kill off his chances.
Besides there being zero evidence of that being the case here.
What for? Stupid move, nothing will change. It will just keep this mess in the press and continue the disunity in the Dem Party hype afloat.
How does calling for recanvas hurt Sanders? Sorry, but exactly WTF are you talking about?
Here’s an idea: stop holding caucuses. They’re undemocratic, and disenfranchise people.
Good lord Perez. Way to unify the party.
2016 called and they want their foreign influenced talking points back.
Oh, Perez, go away - you’re worthless.
Perez, I maintain, is the most worthless party leader in recent history. Yes, I get that under his leadership we took back the House, but that was distinctly a grassroots effort. He’s been absolutely useless otherwise. This is just a demonstration of his inability to lead.
Lambaste me if you must, but this guy’s gotta go if there’s going to be any national party in the future.
Why should Bernie, who isn’t even a registered Democrat, get to have ANY input on this? Did Perez ask anyone else’s permission?
Geez.