Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

No one could have predicted…

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

You are here: Home / Past Elections / 2020 Elections / Iowa Caucus Update

Reader Interactions

54Comments

  4. 4.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    Just back from a Linn County caucus: Viable candidates were Warren, Biden, Klobuchar, Buttigeig (sp?), and Sanders … in that order. Sanders voters surprised me – I thought he would be much closer to the leaders. ETA – I went with Warren.

  5. 5.

    Jerzy Russian

    I would assume most of the caucuses are over by now?   Given the relatively small number of participants, I wouldn’t think it should take that long to get some results out.

  9. 9.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    I also neglected to mention Linn County is where Cedar Rapids is located.We liven in a little rural hamlet named Bertram, just outside CR. Nevertheless, nearly 300 voters participated.

  13. 13.

    guachi

    This caucus is at least interesting in the fact that so many candidates are on the edge of viability. Will be interesting to see the breakdown from first round to last round after viability sorting.

  14. 14.

    Suzanne

    I am watching MSNBC with Mr. Suzanne, while Spawn the Youngest snoozes on my chest. We watched the Iowa caucuses on our first date in 2008. That was a good year, for multiple reasons.

    We’re both leaning Warren, followed by Amy K, at this point. But really, we are Blue (or Bernie) No Matter Who.

  17. 17.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 8

    I still don’t understand how anyone could consider a 78 year old man who has had a heart attack in the last calendar year and think he’s going to be a good President.

  19. 19.

    Butter Emails

    @guachi:

    This caucus is at least interesting in the fact that so many candidates are on the edge of viability. Will be interesting to see the breakdown from first round to last round after viability sorting.

    Yeah. It’s going to be interesting. Technically, someone with lower numbers overall, but less concentrated support could be viable in nearly all precincts while someone with higher overall but more concentrated support could be viable in significantly fewer precincts.

  21. 21.

    Ohio Mom

    An old friend who is a college dance professor, lived in Iowa for a short while. She was fascinated with the caucuses as a sort of naturally occurring choreography.

    I could see possible uses of the caucus method in very small groups, say a church deciding where to send their mission money. All the housing advocates over here, the health center supporters over there.

    But as a substitute for a primary, they are obviously a horror and a travesty.

  23. 23.

    Anya

    @Baud: CNN was showing one of the sites he won big last time but this time Warren won it and he came third. I forgot the name. I am on pain killers so I slightly delirious so all of this might not even be real, including this post

  25. 25.

    stinger

    Also on the ground in Johnson County, though my precinct is so small we only get one delegate; therefore, the 15% viability rule doesn’t apply. One candidate had to get a simple majority.
    First division: Sanders 20, Klobuchar 15, Buttigieg 12, Warren 12, Biden 5, Bennett 1
    I was surprised the Biden support wasn’t stronger.
    Second division: Sanders 28, Klobuchar 22, Buttigieg 12
    So no movement toward Buttigieg, who apparently wasn’t anyone’s second choice.
    In the past we would continue to have divisions until a group was viable, but the rules this year allowed only 2 divisions. As no candidate achieved a 33-vote majority, our delegate to the county convention in March is officially Unaligned, at least on the first division there; on subsequent divisions they can vote their preference. We all voted on the individual who would represent our precinct. The Buttigieg group joined with the Klobuchar group to send a Klobuchar supporter as the delegate, thus blocking Sanders. Several people — mostly Sanders people — volunteered as alternate delegates, but the official delegate is thrilled to be chosen and is staunchly Klobuchar, so the alternates are unlikely to be seated at county.
    Now I will take my pigshit stink elsewhere. Sorry for offending delicate sensibilities.

  30. 30.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: As I understand it, Iowa can’t be a Primary and be first, according to New Hampshire state law.  So it’s only going to be fixed if both states change their laws.

    Or the Democratic Party changes its rules to ignore those contests.

    Not sure which set of options will happen first…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    stinger

    @Barbara: A front pager, and plenty of commenters, are resentful of Iowa going first and of the way our state’s political parties choose their nominees, and aren’t shy about openly insulting us.

    But I value John Cole and most front pagers and commenters, so I’m sticking around.

  36. 36.

    Ben Cisco

    Holy schnikeys – Tweety just waxed eloquently (or as close to it as he can get) about AA voter suppression via primary/caucus scheduling.

    I may need to go lie down…

  38. 38.

    Ken

    Whoever the winner is, I’d guess there’s about a 70% chance that Trump will start claiming that their kid (or spouse, or third cousin by marriage) is at the center of the Ukraine corruption scandal.

  39. 39.

    Kay

    @Jay:

    What is this lie supposed to accomplish? The D voters themselves know they’re not fraudulent. They’re actual people. This has always been the basic flaw in the voter fraud bullshit. There are no voters who think “I’ll stop my frauding ways, they’re on to me” because Republicans invented the problem.

  40. 40.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Kay: The point is to sow doubt in the primary process so that some people on the left, who aren’t actually directly involved, get disgusted with the party and vote third-party or stay home. And to sow doubt in the general-election process so they can use that to raise mobs and work the refs if there’s a close result.

  41. 41.

    joel hanes

    @Barbara:

    confused by your ending

    Speculating:

    For a while, the blue political blogs have been full of condemnations of the Iowa caucus process, and of Iowa going first.

    If one were an Iowa political activist who was committed to using existing structures to do actual politics, one might feel a bit raw under that lash.

  42. 42.

    Jay

    @Kay:

    @Matt McIrvin:

    what he said, you can’t raise a crop of mushrooms with out plenty of bull shit.

    Twitter is segmented. People follow and retweet the people they follow, very few ever step out of the like minded box they inhabit, so,……

  44. 44.

    dr. luba

    Has anyone noticed quickly disappearing tweets tonight?  I tried to heart two quite clever tweets (Wilmer-themed), only to have them disappear?  It is Twitter or the new reporting system?

    Like one by TBogg about the “Iowa Red Rover Red Rover, Let Bernie’s Delegates Come Over Iowa Caucus and Butter Sculpture Smackdown.”

  45. 45.

    glory b

    @Suzanne: Hey, how is the Pittsburgh move going? My suggestions for someone working in East Liberty and wanting to live close by: Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Regent Square, Highland Park, and Friendship.

    I don’t know your price range, there’s a pretty good variation there. I  recall that you mentioned a Spanish immersion school, there is a Spanish magnet school in Shadyside.

  47. 47.

    stinger

    @joel hanes: I’m wide open to discussions of how the nomination process should work and who should go first. As long as people can contribute mature comments and not gratuitous insults.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    @dr. luba: I haven’t noticed it tonight, but I’ve been surprised when what I thought were clever and fine LOLGOP tweets (seen via the web interface) suddenly disappear.  I figured he just decided that he didn’t like the way it turned out.

    Dunno.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    The Fat Kate Middleton

    @Barbara: Yeah, just been lurking. Cancer’s in remission, but now my back’s gone all to hell (advanced disk degeneration). Anyway, I’m actually OK, but dealing with it takes a lot of time and effort. Thanks for asking.

  52. 52.

    WaterGirl

    @stinger:

    I’m wide open to discussions of how the nomination process should work and who should go first. As long as people can contribute mature comments and not gratuitous insults.

    I’m all for that!

  53. 53.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @Jay:

    Quoted story is from June 2017. Apparently they’ve been looking for a long time. Maybe we should send out a search party for them.

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