Rivals warn Sanders campaign plans to game Iowa results

[George II]

By NATASHA KORECKI 02/02/2020 07:32 AM EST

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Rival campaigns are sounding the alarm that Bernie Sanders could be planning to claim victory on Monday night — before the caucuses are concluded.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sanders and his team have made clear their intention to tout the results of the first round of caucus voting Monday, even though the Iowa Democratic Party stresses that the only number that matters is the final delegate count.

Aides with two top-tier campaigns told POLITICO they worry the Sanders campaign or other pro-Sanders forces — which will be receiving unofficial precinct results from allies in real time — will disseminate that information through social media or publicly claim victory after the first vote, an act that could distort the eventual results in a variety of ways.

A claim of victory after the first vote could encourage supporters of weaker candidates to leave the caucuses early without realigning with another candidate. Or it could create an artificial bandwagon effect by encouraging some caucus-goers to jump to Sanders’ side under the belief that he will be the victor.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/02/berniesanders-campaigniowa-results-110318

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. I hope people at the caucuses are ready for this.

It looks like somebody's willing to fight dirty, doesn't it?

[Iliyah]

2. Duh . . .

And if VP Biden is on top, he may hint to same

[showblue22]

3. They yell rigged and that everything is unfair

all the while, they are the ones trying to rig things. It's projection. This happened in 2016 too.

[dalton99a]

8. +1. Similarities to the current White House are eerie.

[showblue22]

10. Yes! Very similar.

[NYMinute]

4. "Dirty tricks" like two former Democratic governors of vermont said

This corroborates their narrative.

[BlueMTexpat]

7. I believe those

governors.

[highplainsdem]

5. Nasty tactic. If BS tries this BS, the media and all the other candidates need to point out how

crooked it is.

It's disgusting that they're even considering this.

And they wonder why some people don't trust BS...

[oasis]

6. Not a good look from a Dem Party I've worked with for decades.

[billpolonsky]

9. "Party officials in Iowa and at the national level argue the new process will enhance transparency."

"But as the caucuses approach in less than three weeks, there’s a growing sense that the new information will breed confusion by giving multiple candidates the chance to claim victory."

Read the original article.

[link:https://apnews.com/43354ef73124d58d94ca434b9016b4a7|

[tirebiter]

11. Spiking he ball in Aqaba

[DaDeacon]

12. Yet another non-story framed as a Sanders Scandal dup-dee-doo.

[NurseJackie]

13. How dishonest! Sounds like a scam to me.

[Me.]

14. And Here Again, They Will Assume The Purity Mantle

and try to gaslight us into believing they are honorable. The longer this goes on, he and his remind me of that which we already have and don't want.

[DanTex]

16. "Rivals" are bashing Bernie's campaign without evidence.

How do they think this will help party unity? Why don't they disclose which campaigns they are working for rather than hiding behind "aides with two top-tier campaigns"?

All campaigns always try to spin results in their favor. Seems like just that they are attacking the front-runner.

[highplainsdem]

17. This is what Sanders' people told the AP two weeks ago:

https://apnews.com/43354ef73124d58d94ca434b9016b4a7

Sanders’ chief adviser, Jeff Weaver, said his team is “trying to win all three” categories of results. But he also suggested the campaign will emphasize the raw totals from the first round of votes no matter the eventual outcome.

“At the end of the day, the first impression is probably the most accurate portrayal of who won the night,” Weaver said.

-snip-

Sanders’ Iowa state director, Misty Rebik, said that “the popular vote is very important. We fought for (the reporting change), and we’re proud of that.” Rebik suggested the campaign is going to tout the first alignment numbers no matter the outcome.

“We want to emphasize that the way that we beat Donald Trump is by having the biggest, largest grassroots coalition, and that’s through pure numbers,” she said.

[Cha]

18. shocked

[Gothmog]

19. Who is surprised by this?

sanders has shown some very poor judgment hiring and not firing liars like Sirota and stein supporters. sanders has not been running an honest campaign with these people in charge