App Used in Iowa Caucus Debacle Linked to Ex-Clinton Campaign Staffers, Partially Financed by Buttigieg

Online Source: The Federalist Papers

So, as most people know by now the Iowa caucuses we’re a debacle, and we still have no result.

Nate Silver predicts that Bernie will be the most hurt by this, and that Biden will live to fight another day.

What’s odd is that the app that seemingly has caused all of the problems is linked to ex-Hillary Clinton staffers and other Democratic party pro-establishment types, Fox News reports:

Shadow, a tech firm that describes itself as a group that creates “a permanent advantage for progressive campaigns and causes through technology,” is the company that created the Iowa Democratic Party’s app, according to The New York Times. At least the COO, CEO, CTO and a senior product manager at Shadow all worked for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, according to LinkedIn profiles.

Shadow is associated with ACRONYM, a nonprofit dedicated to “advancing progressive causes through innovative communications, advertising and organizing programs.” Early last year, ACRONYM announced that it was acquiring an SMS tool called Groundbase and, out of Groundbase, “launching Shadow, a company focused on building the technology infrastructure needed to enable Democrats to run better, more efficient campaigns.”

Groundbase co-founders Krista Davis, who is the current Shadow CTO, and Gerard Niemira, who is the current Shadow CEO, both held senior positions with the Clinton campaign.

Tara McGowan, the founder and CEO of ACRONYM, posted a statement from an ACRONYM spokesman early Tuesday morning distancing the nonprofit from Shadow, which is a for-profit company. . . . McGowan is an alumna of Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and previously worked as a digital director for NexGen America, a progressive organization founded by presidential candidate Tom Steyer.

The other odd thing is that the app was also partially financed by the Buttigieg campaign.

Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s campaign contributed money to the technological firm whose voting app contributed to reporting delays in the Iowa caucuses.

Federal Election Commission filings reveal that Buttigieg’s campaign gave tens of thousands of dollars to Shadow on July 23, 2019, for “software rights and subscriptions.”

Seems like a conflict of interest that other candidates would have not been excited about, but that’s just me.

Here’s another interesting tidbit. For those who don’t know, Nate Silver is a very well respected political analyst who specializes in interpreting polling data. This is what Silver had to say about last night’s debacle, via his site, fivethirtyeight.com:

[T]he Iowa Democratic Party’s colossal screw-up in reporting results will potentially have direct effects on the outcome of the nomination process. The failure to report results will almost certainly help Biden, assuming that indications that he performed poorly in Iowa are correct, as they won’t get nearly as much media coverage. And they’ll hurt whichever candidate wins the state — mostly likely Sanders or Buttigieg. (Although if Sanders winds up finishing in second place or lower, he also might not mind a reduction in the importance of Iowa, especially with one of his best states, New Hampshire, coming up next.)

Furthermore, Iowa is typically a state that winnows the field. But with every candidate either having performed well there, potentially having an excuse for a disappointing finish there, or somewhere in between, it might not do that. Delaying the winnowing process would tangibly increase the chance of a contested convention.

It’s not a good situation for the Democratic Party. And it’s already too late for the damage to be entirely undone, even if Iowa eventually gets its act together.

Silver is in no way a Trump supporter and his brutal analysis is devastating to Democrats.

The big loser here is Bernie Sanders, and Joe Biden gets to live another day.

Curioser and curioser, as the saying goes…