2020 Daily Trail Markers: Iowa Dems issue a "minor connection"
On Wednesday afternoon, the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) released more results from Monday's caucuses. CBS News campaign reporters Musadiq Bidar and Adam Brewster say the state party has now released results from 86% of the precincts, which have been released on a rolling basis.
The returns show former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg leading in statewide delegates. As of Wednesday afternoon Buttigieg was ahead with 26.6%. followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (25.4%), Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (18.3%), and former Vice President Joe Biden (15.9%). Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar is in fifth place with 12.5%.
In a strange turn of events on Wednesday, the IDP at one point posted incorrect results showing former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick winning statewide delegates. The state party issued a statement that "there will be a minor correction," but it took nearly 45 minutes before results were updated and corrected.
Earlier in the afternoon, an aide to the IDP said the results were being thoroughly vetted and that was part of the reason why final results have not been reported more than 40 hours after the caucuses began. "Staff is literally examining the photo or paper records that have been collected and matching it against the inputted response, which obviously takes time," the aide said. "We have to do this for all three sets of data — first alignment, final alignment and the state delegate equivalents."
In a message to the Iowa Democratic Party State Central Committee on Tuesday night, which was obtained by CBS News, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price laid out how the party has been working through the chaos over the past 48 hours. "Media accounts tell part of the story - technical issues and new reporting requirements caused delays and confusion," Price wrote. "What received less attention by the media, was the deliberative and cross-functional approach we brought to preparing for and solving these challenges."
When precinct results started coming in, Price said "our accuracy and quality check programs found inconsistencies - prompting a full-scale investigation." He said IDP staff activated pre-planned backup operations and began entering data manually. Price's memo said that IDP staff found and resolved a "coding issue" in the app's reporting system, but found that the underlying data collected in the app was sound. He said there has been "cross-checking paper documentation with data recorded in the app to ensure State Delegate Equivalents were valid and accurate."
"As I've said to many of you, this work is personal to me," Price wrote. "I know how important it is for everyone - from our neighbors to new voters - to have confidence in the process and its results. We are taking the time we need to do just that."
FROM THE CANDIDATES
JOE BIDEN
On the trail in New Hampshire Wednesday, Joe Biden called the latest results Iowa caucuses a "gut punch" and said, "I'm not gonna sugarcoat it." CBS News campaign reporter Bo Erickson said Biden added, "The whole process took a gut punch." He was referring to what is at this point his fourth-place finish in the first voting contest in 2020, which took place Monday.
With about 71% of the results released by the Iowa Democratic Party, Pete Buttigieg just ahead of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren also leading Biden. While in New Hampshire, where next week's first-in-the-nation primary will be held, Biden also went after the top two candidates by name in his remarks, a tactic he has rarely used on the campaign trail.
"We need a nominee who can help democrats up and down the ticket," Biden argued. "But if Senator Sanders is the nominee for the party, every democrat in America…will have to carry the label Senator Sanders has chose for himself…he calls himself a democratic socialist."
"Donald Trump is desperate to bend this -- to pin the socialist label of socialist, socialist, socialist, on our party. We can't let him do that," Biden said, adding that the Vermont senator a "good man." Sanders and his campaign in the past month have regularly criticized Biden's long Senate record including his vote in favor of the Iraq War and previous openness to negotiate cuts to Social Security in order to balance the federal budget. Biden then shifted his focus to another leading contender in the race, Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend.
Last week, Buttigieg criticized Biden as a D.C. insider, an attack Biden attempted to rebut on Wednesday. The former vice president ticked off a list of accomplishments from his decades in the federal government, including his working passing both Obamacare and the Recovery Act as vice president. "Is he really saying the Obama-Biden administration was a failure?" Biden asked. "Pete, just say it out loud." The former vice president then seemed to compare his long political resume to Buttigieg's. "I have great respect for Mayor Pete and his service to this nation. But I do believe it's a risk – to be just straight up with you – for this party and to nominate someone who's never held an office higher than mayor of a town of 100,000 people in Indiana."
Looking ahead to Tuesday's primary and beyond to the subsequent early-voting states, Biden signaled to his rivals and the national press corps that he is committed to winning the primary race. "I know there are a awful lot of folks out there who…write off this campaign," Biden said at the outset of the speech, "Well, I've got news for them. I'm not going anywhere."
TOM STEYER
Before heading to New Hampshire, Tom Steyer on Tuesday stopped in Nevada for a brief appearance at a Las Vegas middle school. CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin says the event marks his 15th total day stumping in Nevada, more than any other candidate, as rivals have dispatched surrogates to the state or battled it out on the airwaves. He kicked off his appearance asking whether the crowd had seen the news out of the delayed Iowa caucus, where he has yet to pick up a delegate. "There is such a big muddle that in fact they have put this into your hands," Steyer remarked.
STATE-BY-STATE
CALIFORNIA
A handful of campaigns are racking up endorsements in California, from new congressional and statewide endorsements for Mike Bloomberg to 41 elected officials now backing Bernie Sanders, who has led recent polls in the state. But California Democratic Congressman Ami Bera, who helps lead his party's program to safeguard vulnerable incumbents, predicted swing district Democrats in California will not be backing Sanders.
"When you talk to them individually, when you talk about some of these competitive races not just in California but across the country, they are very afraid of Bernie Sanders," Bera told CBS News campaign reporter Alex Tin, as he campaigned this week in Nevada for Joe Biden. "I think they realize Bernie Sanders at the top of the ticket is going to make their reelection pretty difficult," Bera added later, praising the former vice president's ability to help defend "tough districts."
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Democrats are still reeling from the unmitigated disaster that was the Iowa caucuses, which has yet to produce a clear winner in a year when their voters remain far from settled on a presidential nominee. But the good news for Democrats, if you can call it that, is that primary voters in the nation's next contest seem totally unfazed by Monday's botched caucus results. As voters settled into folding chairs and bench pews Tuesday, CBS News campaign reporter Nicole Sganga says it was business as usual in New Hampshire. "We've always discounted Iowa," Michael Rosenblum of Nashua said while waiting for a selfie with Senator Amy Klobuchar. "This is where it really happens. This is where it really starts. Iowa's not going to determine how New Hampshire votes."
"If you ask most New Hampshirites, they would tell you we're first anyway," Susan Jamback, chair of the Bow Democrats, said. "Iowa doesn't really allow their residents to vote. The caucus is not fair and it doesn't make sense." A victory in Iowa is meant to give the winning candidate momentum heading into New Hampshire's February 11th primary and the contests that follow. But New Hampshire does have a history of ignoring the results out of the Hawkeye State. In 2016, for example, Senator Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire handily after losing to Hillary Clinton in Iowa. In 2008, New Hampshire went for Clinton in an upset after then-Senator Barack Obama won the caucuses. The last Democratic candidate to win both contests in a contested primary was John Kerry in 2004.
It's true that a number of candidates are just returning to New Hampshire after a weeks-long absence. The impeachment trial benched the four senators running for president for most of January while most of their rivals for the nomination focused on Iowa. Klobuchar spent just one day in the Granite State in the lead-up to the impeachment proceedings.
"All the last few weeks, I sat in that chamber, knowing I was doing my constitutional duty, knowing how important it was," Klobuchar told voters in Portsmouth on Tuesday. "And then seeing some of my opponents out there doing hundreds of events. Now at least, with the exception of tomorrow when I'm going back for the vote, I will be at an even playing field."
Carol Gayman of Manchester said that her New Hampshire family and friends appeared more anxious than in previous years. Democrats like her are desperate to beat President Trump in November, and feel that the pressure is on to pick the right nominee. "I think we're all very, very nervous. And hopeful at the same time that our country can move forward and get back to where we were morally. Everyone is just so worried that we'll make the wrong decision," Gayman said. "It's sad for Iowa. But now the onus is on New Hampshire," she said, smiling. "Which is a good thing."
After the meltdown in Iowa, which led to a major delay in reporting results, New Hampshire Democratic officials have been trying to reassure voters that the primary should go off without a hitch. "We have obviously a paper trail as well with paper ballots," Ray Buckley, the Democratic state party chair, told New Hampshire Public Radio.
"So people should have complete confidence in what's happening in New Hampshire until we really hear exactly what's going on in Iowa. I don't think that anyone should be jumping ahead." Unlike the caucus in Iowa, New Hampshire's primary is run by the state, not the party. The primary's "protector-in-chief," Secretary of State Bill Gardner, is overseeing his eleventh presidential primary this year. When asked about election security ahead of the 2018 midterms, Gardner noted that New Hampshire's old-school way of conducting elections ensured their safety and reliability.
"You want to know about being hacked? You see this pencil here? Want me to give it to you and see if you can hack this pencil?" Gardner said. "We have this pencil. This is how people vote in this state. And you can't hack this pencil."
CONGRESSIONAL COVERAGE
IMPEACHMENT VOTE
The Senate voted to acquit President Trump on Wednesday. However, a Republican broke ranks on the first article of impeachment. Senator Mitt Romney was the only Republican who voted to convict Trump of abuse of power. He joins the 47 other Democrats in voting to remove the president for office for this offense. Senators voted along party lines on the second article of impeachment, obstruction of justice.
The senators up for reelection this year who have been watched closely throughout the whole process ended up voting along party lines on both articles, reports CBS News political unit associate producer Eleanor Watson. This group includes Democrats like Doug Jones of Alabama and Gary Peters of Michigan as well as Republicans like Susan Collins of Maine, Cory Gardner of Colorado, and Martha McSally of Arizona.
IN THE HOUSE
Some House Democrats in competitive districts showed their support of Senator Mitt Romney's remarks and eventual "No" vote on the first article of impeachment. Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, who represents a district Trump won by two points and is a House Intelligence Committee member, tweeted, "It's officially a bi-partisan impeachment." Mike Levin of California, a freshman Democrat, thanked the Utah Senator for "standing up for America today."
A strategist for an outside Conservative group told CBS News political unit broadcast associate Aaron Navarro that Romney's "No" vote will not impact their impeachment messaging at all, nor will it change any of voter's minds about impeachment.
Romney was the only party-breaking vote from the Republican Senate on impeachment. Not counting newly-minted Republican Jeff Van Drew, House Democrats had two "No" votes on articles of impeachment: Collin C. Peterson of Minnesota and Jared Golden of Maine, who only voted "Yes" for one of the articles. After months of seeing their members get targeted by Republicans for their "Yes" votes on impeachment, DCCC spokesperson Robyn Patterson said Romney "made clear that impeaching President Trump was about the rule of law and not party loyalty."
