Tony Leys

tleys@dmreg.com

Seventeen hours after Iowa's Democratic caucuses began, The Associated Press officially called Hillary Clinton the winner of a razor-thin contest with challenger Bernie Sanders.

Clinton claimed 49.8 percent of state delegate equivalents on Monday, while Sanders claimed 49.6 percent of delegate equivalents, the Iowa Democratic Party reported. In total, 171,109 Iowans showed up for last night's Democratic caucuses, the party said.

Iowa Democratic Party officials worked into the early morning hours, trying to chase down results from a handful of precincts. About 2:30 a.m., the party's website showed that Clinton had 49.9 percent of the delegates to Sanders' 49.6 percent, with 1,682 of 1,683 precincts reporting.

Clinton's Iowa campaign manager, Matt Paul, said she had won. "After thorough reporting — and analysis — of results, there is no uncertainty, and Secretary Clinton has clearly won the most national and state delegates," Paul wrote in a statement. "Statistically, there is no outstanding information that could change the results and no way that Sen. Sanders can overcome Secretary Clinton's advantage."

But Sanders spokeswoman Rania Batrice noted that one precinct in Polk County remained outstanding, and she said there were questions about the results in several other counties.

"We definitely don't feel comfortable yet," she said early Tuesday.

State Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire said the results were the closest in Iowa caucus history. "Hillary Clinton has been awarded 699.57 state delegate equivalents, Bernie Sanders has been awarded 695.49 state delegate equivalents, (former Maryland Gov.) Martin O’Malley has been awarded 7.68 state delegate equivalents and uncommitted has been awarded .46 state delegate equivalents," she wrote in a statement about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. She said the missing Des Moines precinct was worth 2.28 state delegate equivalents.

Democratic Iowa caucus results are reported by a complicated system of "delegate equivalents" rather than by voter head count.

Sanders, who started the race far behind Clinton, declared Monday night that even if the former secretary of state edged him, he considered the near tie a great accomplishment.

“I think the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment and, by the way, to the media establishment,” Sanders told supporters.

Many political experts dismissed Sanders’ chances when he joined the race last May. But the Vermont senator drew increasingly big and enthusiastic crowds by relentlessly projecting his passion to fight economic injustice.

“He lives this. He’s the real deal,” said Lloyd Levine, 62, of Des Moines, a retiree who watched Sanders speak at Grand View University on Sunday night. “He’s speaking the truth, and he’s supported these issues all his life."

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, was several laps behind Clinton when the race began.

An Iowa Poll published in The Des Moines Register on Feb. 1, 2015, showed that 56 percent of likely Democratic caucus participants favored Clinton as their first choice for president. Just 5 percent favored Sanders, who trailed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 16 percent and Vice President Joe Biden at 9 percent. Warren and Biden both decided not to run, and Sanders quickly became many liberals’ favorite alternative to the presumed Clinton juggernaut. But by last week, the Iowa Poll had him trailing Clinton by just 3 percentage points. With most precinct results reported late Monday, both were credited with having 49 percent of the delegates.

MORE CAUCUS NIGHT COVERAGE:

With no clear winner Monday night, Clinton took the stage at her "victory party" at Drake University. She voiced appreciation for the third Democratic candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who had just suspended his campaign after failing to gain traction here. Then she told hundreds of cheering fans that she was excited about continuing her competition with Sanders in other states.

"We can finally begin to have what I think is one of the most important, substantive conversations that the Democratic Party could have," Clinton said. "I know that we may have differences of opinion about how best to achieve our goals, but I believe that we have a very clear idea that the Democratic Party and this campaign stands for what is best in America."

Grant Woodard, a Des Moines lawyer who worked for Clinton’s 2008 Iowa campaign, noted earlier Monday that the former secretary of state, senator and first lady collected a lopsided list of endorsements from Iowa’s Democratic establishment. Droves of legislators and union leaders sided with Clinton, boosting her effort to build one of the most extensive field operations Iowa has ever seen.

“She had pretty much every institutional advantage a candidate could dream of having,” Woodard said.

Woodard, who didn’t work for a campaign this cycle, was among the many longtime Democratic activists who expected Sanders to fizzle. They were wrong.

“If you had told me six months ago that this race would be this close, I never would have believed it,” he said Monday.

Although Clinton appeared to have the more extensive political organization, Sanders also hired experienced operatives to coordinate his efforts in the state, Woodard said.

Sanders’ political rallies drew hundreds and sometimes thousands of enthusiastic young supporters. They applauded wildly for the rumpled candidate’s hour-long discourses on economic injustice and his calls for a “political revolution” to restore fairness.

REPUBLICAN RESULTS: Ted Cruz wins Iowa caucus, beating Trump

Alex Gass, 26, of Cedar Falls saw Sanders speak Sunday. Gass, a machinist, said the senator has an authenticity that made him interested in politics for the first time. He summed up Sanders’ appeal in one word: "Honesty."

“He just says what he believes,” Gass said. “It’s resonating with a lot of people.”

Mary Vermillion of Iowa City wound up siding with Clinton after hearing her closing argument. Clinton’s theme the past few weeks was that Democrats need a candidate who can beat the Republicans next November and can then implement practical solutions for the country.

Vermillion, 51, decided Clinton was a more realistic choice than Sanders. “It’s not that she doesn’t share his ideas. But you need to be feasible,” she said.

Clinton cemented the college professor’s support Saturday night with an impassioned stump speech at a Cedar Rapids high school gym. “I’m a progressive who actually likes to make progress!” she declared, implicitly distinguishing herself from her more idealistic rival.

Iowa caucuses make history again

Clinton started her Iowa campaign by holding a series of small, invitation-only meetings. Those events often included 15 or 20 voters, watched by twice that many members of the media. She credited those sessions with helping her understand Iowans’ thoughts and concerns, but the meetings didn’t put her in front of a broad swath of undecided voters.

“I think she started off fairly weak, relatively speaking. She was not a great candidate,” said David Redlawsk, a Rutgers University political science professor who studies the Iowa process. “Really the key here is Bernie made her better. She responded to the challenge.”

Clinton emphasized her experience, especially on foreign affairs. She rolled out a series of detailed plans, on everything from expanding the economy to fighting terrorism to helping families deal with autism and Alzheimer’s disease. Her rallies grew in size and energy as the caucuses neared, but they rarely drew as many people or sparked as much excitement as Sanders’ events. However, they drew more older Democrats, who had repeatedly caucused in the past.

Redlawsk said Sanders appealed to the relatively liberal Iowa Democratic rank and file. They’re the same people who helped Obama catapult past Clinton in 2008, he said.

“They really want that progressivism. They really want that world change,” he said.

DEMOCRATIC RESULTS:

Redlawsk said it was fascinating to see Sanders capture young voters’ affection the way a much younger Obama did eight years ago.

“A guy who’s 74 years old harvested enthusiasm for the future — rather than a return to what people might see as the past, the Clintons yet again.”

Sanders pounded away at his central argument that the political system is rigged in favor of the wealthy and can be fixed only by a president from outside the establishment.

"We will stand up to the powers that be, and we will create a nation that fulfills the dream and the vision that we know our country can be,” he told 1,700 voters in Des Moines Sunday night.

Redlawsk credited Sanders with sticking to his main theme, even when terrorist attacks diverted attention from the economy.

Redlawsk agrees with many other political experts that Sanders probably will win the Feb. 9 New Hampshire primary, which is next door to his home state of Vermont. But he believes Clinton could recover in South Carolina and other Southern states, where she is particularly popular among African-American voters.