By now it’s pretty clear that the Iowa caucuses were a mess. It’s pretty much acknowledged that the phone app that was developed for this year’s caucuses was a total disaster. And it wasn’t even the Russians this time. It was just plain old-fashioned incompetence.
It’s Wednesday morning as I write this, and still we’re only at about 71% of the votes counted.
What is interesting is that right now Buttigieg is leading 27% to 25% over Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden is trailing the pack in 4th with 15%. Elizabeth Warren is clocking in at about 18%.
As I’ve written previously, I was wrong about Bernie Sanders, and he continues to surprise. But this one is a disaster for Joe Biden and very encouraging for Pete Butigieg.
Buttigieg has a lot in common with Obama from 2008. He really doesn’t have nearly enough experience, and he’s gay. But he does have something that Obama had right from the start, and that is character.
Buttigieg has a lot of character, and that can overcome a lot of other deficiencies. I didn’t think that America would elect a black man (or at least bi-racial man) in 2008, so maybe we’d elect a young gay man in 2020.
Who knows?
In any case, I wouldn’t feel good about the Iowa caucuses if I were Joe Biden.