The Iowa caucus is not winner take all

[relayerbob]

There is no "winner" per se, as the delegates are awarded proportionately.

If this was a marathon race, the best one could say is that Sanders and Buttegieg are nose to nose, leading the pack, with Warren close behind and Biden right on her heels. Also, if this was a marathon, we wouldn't have even passed the first half mile mark, yet. As a distance runner I can tell you, they would barely have worked up a sweat yet.

So, relax, the start was bad, the officiating sucked, but the relative positions of the contenders at this point won't change the end results much, if any at all. The hoped for prime-time victory speeches were missed, but in reality, don't mean much. The delegate counts will likely remain very close to the same in any recount.

No matter who your candidate is, over 70% of the Democrats in Iowa CHOSE SOMEONE ELSE. This is true in almost all national polls. Quit freaking out, no one's "surging" ahead, that's all media and campaign hype.

Let the process play out, stay focused on the end goal (taking back our country from the morons), and most of all, take a deep breath and let the numbers get checked and rechecked and otherwise, let it go.

[Garrett78]

1. None of the Dem primaries/caucuses are winner-take-all, but that doesn't mean...

...there aren't winners.

[relayerbob]

2. At best, this was a tie

But this whole winner/loser thing will kill us. It's not a football game, it's not a reality show. It is our lives.

Democrats should be working for common solutions, not finding reasons to bicker.

[Skidmore]

3. The delegates awarded are not even state delegates.

they are delegates to the county conventions, where delegates to the state convention are chosen. State delegates choose those going to national. People need to go wash their underoos and iron them. Chill.

[MineralMan]

4. Exactly!

[Gore1FL]

5. The issue isn't the delegates. It's momentum.

Biden needs to raise money. He missed expectations by quite a lot. This process is more a speedometer than an odometer, though; he has to correct this fast as Super Tuesday is coming fast. He is certainly certainly capable of recovery. It's likely he will recover.

I agree 100 % with your conclusion:

Let the process play out, stay focused on the end goal (taking back our country from the morons), and most of all, take a deep breath and let the numbers get checked and rechecked and otherwise, let it go.

[relayerbob]

6. To a point ..

But Biden's momentum was pretty low to begin with, when you consider the fundraising numbers and other "pre-race" metrics. Sanders' momentum has taken a hit here also, as he did not bring in the huge turnout he suggested was waiting for him. The fact that he gets a lot of money doesn't really matter if he can't turn that into votes. Buttegieg has grabbed some momentum, but this is a state that was weighted heavily in his favor. Warren has an uphill battle in the coming weeks, and Klobuchar even more. So yes, the race to the first watering hole on the course (super Tuesday) is going to be tight, but even after SC, we're still only a few percent of the way into the race.

And, of course, these are only the "Olympic trials". The real race is yet to start, and the other side is going to go in rested and well-oiled (well, at least the palms will have been greased). We must not let our efforts for our candidate cause injury to our team.

Note, I oppose both the caucus process, as well as the single state kickoff, as they are both non-representative of the nation as a whole, and give us false impressions of things like momentum. Probably not a lot better than endless polls (polls favor older people with land lines and time on their hands, caucus' favor younger activists with time on their hands). If we were to make Nevada and Iowa into primary elections, and run them concurrent to New Hampshire and South Carolina, then at least it might have some statistical validity. Hence my final statement - and agreed, we need to stay focused on the end goal, not on the mile markers, unless and until one candidate starts to actually pull ahead. That may occur on Super Tuesday ... or it may not.

[Gore1FL]

7. I'm all for a concurrent national primary day(s) and be done with the elongated process. nt

[relayerbob]

8. I would like to see rotating regional ones, IMO

When they are all at once, the candidates spend all their time on the big states and on airplanes. Keep the regions local so the candidates have to get into the town halls and out in the real world, and away from the stadiums and airport hotels. More group town hall discussions, with multiple candidates ... but not "debates". More like planning meetings on how we are to proceed as a party and a nation. That would give us a better feel for who are real leaders vs. who has the most money, loudest voice, or quickest comebacks.

But beyond that yes, the process is WAY too long. There should be a limit on time as to how early one can announce for all offices. The continual election cycle is very damaging.