US Democratic Caucus Megathread - From each candidates ability, to each candidates need.

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I made this thread so that on A&H so that there would be room so other topics wouldn't be slided from the 1st page.
A reminder:
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first story

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com.au/what-is-a-recanvass-recount-iowa-caucuses-2020-2/?r=US&IR=T
Archive: http://archive.li/S2N51

The Democratic National Committee just demanded a recanvass of the Iowa caucus results. Here's what that means.
SONAM SHETH, GRACE PANETTA
FEB 7, 2020, 7:47 AM

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P Photo/Andrew HarnikDNC chair Tom Perez.

  • The Democratic National Committee demanded a recanvass on Thursday of the election results in the Iowa caucuses.
  • The development came after a series of breakdowns in the reporting process, unexplained inconsistencies, and errors in the results.
  • A recanvass is different than a recount. It consists of local election officials recalculating election results to determine if there’s a difference in the number of votes that each candidate received.
  • A recount takes place through the court system and is paid for by the campaign that requests it. In a recount, the circuit court would be responsible for double-checking the ballots, and all election machines and other infrastructure would be turned over to the court.
The Democratic National Committee demanded a recanvass on Thursday of the results in the Iowa caucuses.

DNC chairman Tom Perez made the announcement after The New York Times published a detailed and troubling analysis showing that “more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses.”

“Enough is enough,” Perez tweeted. “In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass.”

Shortly after Perez’s tweet, the Iowa Democratic Party released a statement saying it has “taken unprecedented steps to gather redundant reports to ensure accuracy of all underlying data,” adding that it would not conduct a recanvass of the results unless a candidate formally requests one through the proper channels.

A reconvass consists of local election officials recalculating election results to determine if there’s a difference in the number of votes that each candidate received.

In this case, Iowa election authorities would audit all caucus worksheets and reporting forms by hand to double-check that they were correctly tallied up and reported.
A recount, on the other hand, takes place through the court system and is paid for by the campaign that requests it. In a recount, the circuit court would be responsible for double-checking the ballots, and all election machines and other infrastructure would be turned over to the court.
In this specific case, a recount is not an option because the Iowa caucuses don’t use paper ballots and instead rely on preference cards.
The Iowa caucuses have been a mess since they began on Monday.
Almost four days after they took place, the Iowa Democratic Party still has not declared a winner with 97% of the precincts reporting as of 2 p.m. CT because of a series of breakdowns in the reporting process, unexplained inconsistencies, and errors in the results.

A number of factors – including the catastrophic failure of a mobile app designed to submit precinct results, inconsistent calculations of final results, and jammed phone lines causing hours-long holds – barred precinct captains from initially sending the proper data to the Iowa Democratic Party headquarters.
The breakdown delayed a final release of the results.

Caucuses consist of two rounds of preference expression, or alignments, to determine which candidates are viable to receive delegates.
If a caucusgoer’s first-choice candidate doesn’t break the delegate threshold on the first alignment, they can either switch their preference to a candidate who is viable after the first round, try to combine forces with other caucusgoers to make their original first-choice candidate viable on the second alignment, or categorise themselves as an uncommitted caucusgoer.
In the end, the Iowa Democratic Party reported three sets of results: the initial votes from the first alignment for all the precincts, the results from the second alignment, and the estimated state delegate equivalents (SDEs) calculated from the results of the second alignment.
The results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses from 97% of precincts showed Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and former Mayor Pete Buttigieg neck and neck in the total vote count from the second alignment and statistically tied in SDEs.

Currently, Sanders leads the statewide popular vote by 5,954 votes on the first alignment and 2,518 votes from the second alignment over Buttigieg, who holds 550 SDEs compared to 547 for Sanders.
But shortly after Perez demanded a recanvassing of the vote on Thursday, Sanders declared “a very strong victory” in the Iowa caucuses.
In a New Hampshire press conference, Sanders argued that even though results from 3% of precincts are still missing, he is the rightful winner in Iowa because he leads Buttigieg in the popular vote on both the first and second alignments.
 
I imagine modern Democratic primaries are akin to a necromancer competition. Each contestant runs around trying to conjure as many of the dead as possible to prove that they can win in November.
 
I know I've ranted about this in the Iowa thread, but the whole affair's disgusted me. If I were a Bernie supporter I'd be baying for blood after this, since it's obvious they want to kill any momentum he has until they can find someone that isn't him to lose in 2020.
 
I love this shit.

My favorite thing today was seeing Yang congratulate Sanders. Also a photo of Biden "gearing up" to sling the lingo with the kiddos in NH.

nearly forgot: last-minute caucus by pork farmers went to Sanders. They were all I think Somalian?

I'm really tired so I misread the title as Democratic Circus Megathread but then I realized I'd still be pretty much correct

petition to change thread title please.
 


Thanks to a bill that former Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in 2017, California will hold its presidential primary election in March this year rather than June, giving the 2020 Democratic candidates an earlier shot at capturing the Golden State’s nearly 500 delegates.

But U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters argues that her home state – the nation’s most populous, with nearly 40 million residents -- is still getting shortchanged when it comes to influencing which Democrat carries the party’s banner in presidential elections.

“A lot of people have come to the conclusion that it should not simply be Iowa and New Hampshire, that certainly they are not reflective of the makeup of this country,” the Los Angeles-area congreswoman told CNBC on Thursday. “And so, California has a role to play.”

Waters, 81, who has served in Congress since 1991, noted that few other states can match California when it comes to fundraising for Democratic candidates.

“We have candidates who fly out to Los Angeles from everywhere to raise money," Waters told CNBC host Kelly Evans, the Washington Free Beacon reported. “You would have two, three, four at a time in Beverly Hills having dinners and some of our contributors, who are very rich, were holding fancy parties, trying to accommodate the requests for donations and contributions.”

According to Waters, “The thinking is that if we are supplying tremendous dollars to candidates, we ought to have more say.”

“More say” was said to be the intention behind the bill that Brown signed in 2017.

“Candidates will not be able to ignore the largest, most diverse state in the nation as they seek our country's highest office," California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said at the time, according to NPR. “California has been a leader time and time again on the most important issues facing our country — including immigration, education, and the environment.”

He added that the date change would “help ensure that issues important to Californians are prioritized by presidential candidates from all political parties."

Last year, state Democratic Party spokesman Roger Salazar told Fox News that the earlier primary would also help California pull the national party in a more progressive direction.

“The Democratic electorate [in California] is much more progressive than almost any state,” Salazar said at the time. “All of that is going to help bring up some of the core issues Californians care about.”

He listed the environment, health care, immigration and economic injustice as top issues among California Democrats.

That may explain why progressive candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leads in four major California polls, according to Politico.

Ironically, Waters’ remarks about the “tremendous dollars” being donated by Californians come amid a primary battle in which some of the party faithful are accusing New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg of trying to “buy” the nomination.

Since the start of 2020, the former mayor of New York City has spent $13 million on advertising in California and opened 20 regional offices with a total of 300 staffers, Politico reported.

“More say” was said to be the intention behind the bill that Brown signed in 2017.

“Candidates will not be able to ignore the largest, most diverse state in the nation as they seek our country's highest office," California Secretary of State Alex Padilla said at the time, according to NPR. “California has been a leader time and time again on the most important issues facing our country — including immigration, education, and the environment.”

He added that the date change would “help ensure that issues important to Californians are prioritized by presidential candidates from all political parties."

Last year, state Democratic Party spokesman Roger Salazar told Fox News that the earlier primary would also help California pull the national party in a more progressive direction.

“The Democratic electorate [in California] is much more progressive than almost any state,” Salazar said at the time. “All of that is going to help bring up some of the core issues Californians care about.”

He listed the environment, health care, immigration and economic injustice as top issues among California Democrats.

That may explain why progressive candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., leads in four major California polls, according to Politico.

Ironically, Waters’ remarks about the “tremendous dollars” being donated by Californians come amid a primary battle in which some of the party faithful are accusing New York billionaire Michael Bloomberg of trying to “buy” the nomination.

Since the start of 2020, the former mayor of New York City has spent $13 million on advertising in California and opened 20 regional offices with a total of 300 staffers, Politico reported.
 
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