How Bernie Sanders Stood Up to Hillary Clinton in Iowa
By Grace Wyler
Politics Editor
February 2, 2016
From the column 'The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election'
By the end of a long night of caucusing and vote counting, it seemed like the Democratic race in Iowa was a coin toss—literally. With more than 90 percent of precincts reporting, and Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders still locked in a dead heat, reports began circulating around 11 PM here that at least six tied precincts had picked a winner based on the flip of coin. Bizarrely, Clinton had won all six.
As it turns out, the coin flips probably didn't have any affect on the final vote tallies. But it was nevertheless a sign of just how close the Democratic race had become in Iowa. On Tuesday morning, the Associated Press officially declared Clinton the winner, barely edging out Sanders by about four state delegate equivalents, according to the latest count. (If this result holds, Clinton will have earned 22 of Iowa's delegates to the Democratic National Convention; Sanders will wind up with 21.)
Sanders has indicated he won't contest the results, but suggested Tuesday that his campaign might ask the Iowa Democratic Party to release the raw vote totals, something the state party has never done. (Ostensibly to show that Sanders could have won the popular vote, even if he's behind in delegates.) The Clinton campaign, meanwhile, claimed victory early Tuesday morning, arguing in a statement that "statistically, there is no outstanding information that could change the results and no way that Senator Sanders can overcome Secretary Clinton's advantage."
Still, it's hard to see Monday's results as anything other than a victory for Sanders, one that was pretty unimaginable when the self-described Democratic socialist announced his campaign in a Washington press conference last spring. As recently as December, Sanders was trailing Clinton by double digits in most Iowa polls. Even as his numbers rose in the weeks leading up to the caucus, conventional wisdom held that any enthusiasm his campaign was generating among the young and liberal wouldn't be enough to beat Clinton's superior field organization.
Sanders has made a habit of defying conventional wisdom, and reveling in it. In front of a crowd of delirious supporters Monday night, he seemed determined not to let his opponent, or the media, spin away his campaign's accomplishment. "Nine months ago, we came to this beautiful state. We had no political organization; we had no money; no name recognition. And we were taking on the most powerful political organization in the United States of America," Sanders began, barking over the noise of the ballroom at the airport Holiday Inn. "And tonight while the results are still not known, it looks like we are in a virtual tie." The crowd erupted, and kept going for almost a full minute before Sanders had to wave the group down.
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