Iowa Democrats to audit caucus debacle

UPDATE: The Iowa Democratic Party plans to conduct an independent forensic review of how its famed caucuses turned into a national embarrassment. State party Chairman Troy Price announced the investigation on Friday after no candidates requested a recanvass of the results. The review will not change the vote count but will provide insight into how and why the results reporting process got so off track.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (02/07/20, 1:25 p.m.): The Iowa Democratic Party said it would give candidates the weekend to think about asking for a recanvass of Monday’s caucus results. Campaigns were supposed to submit their requests by noon CST today, but so far the Democratic National Committee is the only one demanding a recanvass, or recount. Despite the Iowa Democratic Party’s website showing “100 percent” of precincts reporting, some caucus sites still show no data and others have inconsistent totals.

What do the results look like now? Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg came out just two delegates ahead of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, though Sanders won the popular vote. But neither is pushing for a recount. “We’ve got enough of Iowa,” Sanders said Thursday. “I think we should move on to New Hampshire.” Seven top contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination will meet in a debate in Manchester, N.H., Friday night before the state’s primary on Tuesday. The debate airs at 8 p.m. EST on ABC.

Dig deeper: Read Jamie Dean’s cover story on how Buttigieg uses faith to appeal to the religious left and my report in The Stew on how some Democrats may be working to counter Sanders.