DES MOINES, Iowa — Joe Biden is the biggest loser coming out of Iowa, even without results from the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
The Iowa Democratic Party's inability to release alignment and delegate allocation outcomes Monday night plunged the opening primary contest into chaos, with some campaigns for the 2020 presidential nomination claiming victory, while others questioned the legitimacy of the process.
A common target among the rivals? The former vice president, 77.
Pete Buttigieg walked out into a crowded Drake University gymnasium in Des Moines, touting his performance in Iowa.
“Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality,” said the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, 38. “We don’t know all the results, but we know by the time it’s all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation. By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
Buttigieg's presumptuousness prompted Bernie Sanders's camp to publish its internal figures based on only 40% of Iowa's 1,600-plus precincts. Those figures show him in first place with 29.66%, followed by Buttigieg with 24.59%, Elizabeth Warren with 21.24%, and Biden with 12.37%.
The Vermont senator's data, which Sanders, 78, said he had a "good feeling" about during his speech Monday across town at the Holiday Inn Des Moines Airport Hotel and Conference Center, reflects that of Warren, 70. The Massachusetts senator's campaign manager, Roger Lau, told reporters at the Forte Banquet and Conference Center that the same top three candidates were bunched together, with Biden "a distance fourth."
"Tonight, we are one step closer to winning the fight for the America we imagine is possible," Warren said at her headquarters event moments earlier.
Even Amy Klobuchar's team piled on. Justin Buoen, the Minnesota senator's campaign manager, tweeted "the numbers we’ve seen internally and publicly, we’re running even or ahead of Vice President Biden."
Bidenworld outwardly projected confidence. But while Biden campaign manager Greg Schultz said they were "thrilled" with their showing, behind the scenes, the former vice president's lawyers were seeking to delay naming the winner until the field received "full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond, before any official results are released."
Iowa has long been a thorn in Biden's presidential ambitions, ending his two prior White House bids.
As the caucuses approached, Biden dropped his attacks on rival candidates whom earlier he'd said wanted to drag the party too far left — the advocates of "Medicare for all" the "Green New Deal," and what socialist opponent Sanders calls free college. Biden also didn't address hits on his record over issues including the Iraq War, Social Security, and the deportation of illegal immigrants.
Instead, he focused squarely on President Trump, and on his own claimed appeal to independents and Republicans.
“Ladies and gentlemen, in November, America will have a chance to answer the question: Does the character of a president matter, yes or no?” he said last week in Waukee.
For Des Moines student Grant Blume, 22, however, Biden's final pitch was wide of the mark and failed to take advantage of his competitors' absence, with candidates stuck in Washington at the Senate impeachment trial of the president.
Deflated enthusiasm for Biden was reflected in his campaign's organization across Iowa, according to Joel Hochstein, 33, of Ames.
"The Biden campaign is really just riding on the coattails of Joe Biden being the former vice president of the United States. There's not a whole lot of ground game here. It's about everybody knows him," the education sector worker said after an Elizabeth Warren rally.
Hochstein added that he doubted Biden could "get done" what the country needs in the way of liberal reforms.
"I know Donald Trump calls him 'Sleepy Joe.' There's a little bit of truth to that. And it's not an age thing, right? I see energy in Bernie, I see energy in Elizabeth. I see kind of ho hum in Joe," he said.
After months of telling reporters that Iowa was not a must-win, aides sent the contradictory message of organizing an eight-day, 25-stop bus tour of the first-in-the-nation state in December, a hectic schedule compared to the strategy they deployed shortly after Biden announced his candidacy last spring.
They then put together another long swing in the final month ahead of the caucuses, before last weekend emphasizing how the Feb. 3 opening contest was just the beginning of a long march toward the crowning 2020 Democratic National Convention, despite only having $9 million cash on hand.
The campaign trail so far has tested Biden's skills in retail politics and penchant for rambling oratory, best demonstrated by his performances during the primary debates.
In December, for example, he attacked an older voter during a New Hampton town hall after the man questioned whether Hunter Biden, 50, profited off his father's influence within the Obama administration by accepting a $50,000-a-month role with an Ukrainian oligarch-linked company.
"You're a damn liar, man," Joe Biden said, not quelling concerns some Iowa Democrats harbored that the former vice president is carrying too much political baggage for the general election, making him an easy target for Republicans to pick apart in the fall.
One conservative farmer became an online sensation when he snubbed Biden during a stop at Missouri Valley's Cornstalk Cafe. The former Delaware senator also angered a woman by holding her hand without asking for permission at a Cedar Rapids Labor Day picnic, leaving her feeling "really uncomfortable."
Although Biden's personal touch is sometimes touted as a strength, the encounter dredged up criticism from April, when at least eight women accused him of inappropriate, though not sexual, behavior. He apologized for the incidents before joking about them on the stump.
Roman Crum, 22, a maintenance worker from Grimes, told the Washington Examiner at an Amy Klobuchar event on Sunday that the anecdotes had turned him off from supporting Biden.
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Biden rivals use Iowa counting fiasco to try and edge him out of race - Washington Examiner
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