Tipsheet

Popcorn: Hillary Camp 'Unnerved' By Iowa, Sanders Backers Demand Raw Vote Totals

Guy Benson
Guy Benson  |  February 02, 2016 1:28 PM

The anti-Clinton group America Rising has produced a "by the numbers" infographic that tells the tale of what they call Hillary Clinton's failure in the Hawkeye State. Consider these stats:


Is it fair to characterize a tie -- eventually called for Clinton by the thinnest of margins -- as a "failed effort"?  When one considers Hillary's dominance among the Democratic elite, and the lengths to which the DNC has attempted to set up a coronation for her, "yes" is a reasonable conclusion.  Also, think about not only how far Bernie Sanders has climbed since the beginning of the campaign, but how much ground he gained in just a handful of weeks, down the campaign's home stretch:


She also got totally throttled among young voters, the very group she'll need to turn out once she inevitably limps into the general election (her South Carolina firewall still looks impenetrable, although there may be signs of cracks emerging). Team Clinton's spinmeisters claimed victory in the wee hours of the morning, but hours later, the Associated Press still hadn't made a call in the race. Why not?  Under Iowa Democrats' inscrutable, byzantine delegate allocation process, the race was a tie, with some numbers still outstanding.  Some of that data arrived this morning, pulling the two candidates even closer.  The Des Moines Register reports:

Votes from one precinct in Iowa were still missing Tuesday morning, and Democrats from that neighborhood were scrambling to find party officials so that they could report their tally: Bernie Sanders won by 2 delegates. But the voters of Des Moines precinct No. 42 couldn’t find anyone at Iowa Democratic Party to take their phone calls. The party’s caucus hotline was no longer working. The party headquarters was locked. “It’s important considering how close the race is. We need to be sure everyone has our accurate count,” said Jill Joseph, a rank-and-file Democratic voter who backed Sanders in at No. 42 Monday night. Sanders won seven delegates, Clinton won five, Joseph told The Des Moines Register. It quickly raised questions about whether Sanders had won the popular vote in Iowa. Sanders backers called for Iowa Democratic Party officials to release the raw vote totals...With No. 42's results, Clinton's excruciatingly close lead narrowed further, and voters there called into question whether Sanders may have actually won.

Where as the GOP tallies its votes by counting each voter's selection as a vote (a novel concept), Democrats deal in terms like "state delegate equivalents," of which Mrs. Clinton had been awarded 699.57 late last night.  Some Iowa Democrats believe Sanders narrowly won the popular vote outright, with Sanders supporters demanding that the state party release the hidden "raw vote totals."  Seems like a reasonable ask, no?  The party is technically called "Democratic," after all.  Meanwhile, the media coverage hasn't been very kind to Team Clinton, with the New York Times reporting that the too-close-to-call embarrassment in Iowa has "unnerved" her aides.  Now the candidate herself appears to have pivoted back to playing nice with Sanders, flailing with flop sweat that may have been induced by these two paragraphs alone:


I'll leave you with this -- and as you watch, recall that as this aired, the race was still not called, with some indications leaking out that Sanders may have actually won (see above):


Mrs. Clinton, who got demolished among voters who value honesty last night, trails her Socialist opponent by 18 points in New Hampshire.