WASHINGTON, DC—As the Democratic congressional effort to impeach U.S. President Donald Trump fizzled towards its conclusion Monday afternoon in Washington, the race to face him in the November election kicked off in earnest with the Iowa Caucuses Monday evening. Official results of the caucuses were slower coming in than anticipated, and were not yet available.

“You’ve probably heard we don’t know the results,” Amy Klobuchar told her supporters at 11:20 p.m. Eastern Time. “But we know one thing, we’re punching above our weight.”

“Well, it looks like it’s gonna be a long night,” Joe Biden said roughly 10 minutes later. “We don’t know exactly what it is yet, but we feel good.”

“So listen, it’s too close to call,” Elizabeth Warren said. “So I’m going to tell you what I do know. As the baby daughter of a janitor, I’m so grateful to be up on this stage tonight.”

“Let me begin by stating that I imagine at some point the results will be announced,” Bernie Sanders said. “And when those results are announced, I have a feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well.”

Democratic candidates for president spoke to their supporters in Iowa Monday night without knowing the results of the Iowa caucuses that kicked off the presidential election season, many of them rushing to board planes to New Hampshire where they had appearances scheduled in the morning.

Delays in reporting of results to state party officials, who said they were taking extra time to verify vote counts after some “inconsistencies,” made the much-anticipated first election contest a cliffhanger as midnight approached with no results at all available. No doubt the hiccup in knowing who won — a result expected to shape the rest of the contest for the Democratic nomination — will heighten criticism of the state’s disproportionate influence on American elections.

It’s a tiny state with huge influence. Iowa has a population roughly half that of the GTA, but its position as the first state to vote in the primary and caucus process that determines the nominee has given it a prominence that traditionally shapes the race. Every winner of the Iowa Democratic caucuses stretching back to 2000 has gone on to be the party’s nominee in the general election.

In recent weeks the contest for the Democratic nomination has become singularly focused on who is best positioned to defeat Trump in the general election. How to accomplish that has become a divisive question.

Some — coalescing behind candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar — think a moderate, centrist program based around a pitch to “unite the country” is what’s needed to lure independents and Republicans who are disaffected with Trump. Others, who back Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, think a strong progressive alternative that will energize young voters and motivate the progressive base is the better approach.

Biden has repeatedly said this election is a “battle for the soul of this nation,” and the primaries, beginning with Iowa, seem to first promise a struggle over the soul of the party.

That struggle’s resolution began in Iowa when Democrats gathered to caucus, in a process unlike anything seen in electoral politics in Canada. People gather at their local polling places, in school gyms, church basements and even private living rooms, and physically sort themselves into groups representing the various candidates. A preliminary tally is taken, and any candidate who has less than 15 per cent of support from those in the room is dropped out of contention, and their supporters physically go and join those of remaining candidates. Eventually, Iowa’s 41 pledged delegates (out of 4,750 total delegates at the Democratic National Convention) are allotted to the “viable” candidates who remain.

It’s a process that can take hours, and such caucuses have been criticized as a deterrent to participation compared to simple votes held in the primary election states. Even more, Iowa’s prominent place and influence in the process as the first state — along with that of following New Hampshire, which holds the first primary Feb. 11 — has come under fire because of its small size and mostly white, unrepresentative demographic.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

Defenders of the system say the small size of the states, combined with their prominence, means candidates spend a lot of time meeting voters up close — as a city council candidate might — allowing residents of those states to vet candidates before the televised air war takes over in the larger states.

Traditionally Iowa and New Hampshire have served to narrow the field of candidates going into the contests in the larger and more diverse states that follow. It’s not necessarily likely that any candidates will actually drop off the ballot after Monday night, but their placing could dramatically affect how viable they appear to voters — and donors — going forward.

Read more about: