The Iowa caucuses are over and the winners have been announced, which means we also know who the losers are. For some, though, believing votes were stolen and advancing conspiracy theories soothes open wounds.
Let’s take a look at the top five things campaigns are claiming hurt their candidates’ chances. Please note that not all of these are insane; some appear to be quite plausible.
1. Hillary Clinton surrogate caught changing story
In precinct 43, Hillary Clinton’s surrogate Liz Buck was responsible for counting votes for her candidate. After the first round of votes were counted, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was leading by five votes. Because the Democratic Party includes a viability threshold (meaning a candidate must get at least 15 percent of the vote to win delegates), and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley did not get enough votes, a recount was ordered and O’Malley’s people were forced to leave or choose a different candidate.
This led to a second round of voting. C-SPAN2 cameras followed the Sanders surrogate as she recounted every person on their side of the room. When the vote totals were delivered to the caucus chair, surrogate Buck said she had added only the new voters onto her existing total, meaning she did not recount everyone. A couple minutes later, when Sanders surrogate Carol Baty asked Buck directly if she had counted everyone, Buck said she had.
This has led some to claim that the Clinton campaign cheated Sanders out of votes and delegates. Given the thin margin separating Clinton and Sanders in the final totals, this is not such a far-fetched claim to make.
2. Ted Cruz sabotaged Ben Carson
Just before the caucuses began, a tweet from CNN’s Chris Moody led many to speculate that former neurosurgeon Ben Carson would be dropping out of the race even before the votes were counted. After the caucuses concluded (Carson came in a distant fourth), he and his campaign accused Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s camp of stealing voters by telling them Carson planned to drop out of the race.
“I was reasonably happy today, until I, you know, discovered the dirty tricks going on — spreading rumors I had dropped out,” Carson said.
This may have happened, although there doesn’t appear to be confirmed accounts of Cruz surrogates saying this. It may also have been an innocent — if costly — mistake on the part of Cruz’s people. The furor over whether Carson was dropping out began less than 20 minutes before the caucuses began, and by the time it was confirmed that he was not dropping out, votes were being counted. Cruz campaigners might not have noticed the change at that time.
It’s possible this occurred, but it is not immediately clear whether this was a “dirty trick” or simply a mistake.
Update: Cruz has apologized to Carson, saying his team did send around information citing CNN that Carson planned to drop out, but should have sent around the follow-up confirming the former neurosurgeon was staying in the race.
3. Microsoft stole votes for Marco Rubio
Because some Microsoft employees donated to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, and the tech company’s software was used to tally votes, the website Breitbart concluded that Microsoft must have stolen votes for Rubio. Phillip Bump at the Washington Post takes down this theory. Bump’s best point is probably the fact that Rubio came in third just as he was projected. He overperformed, yes, but he still came in third. If Microsoft wanted Rubio to win, why still have him come in third?
It’s more likely that Trump underperformed because he didn’t have an adequate ground game. He did remarkably well considering, but it appears traditional campaign tactics are still necessary.
4. Clinton camp rigged the coin toss
Clinton and Sanders tied in some precincts, and the decision of who won ended up being decided by a coin toss. (As an aside, there was a “Simpsons” episode in which aliens Kang and Kodos became the presidential nominees. Fictional TV newsman Kent Brockman declares Campaign ’96 the year when “America flips a coin!”)
What a time to be alive.
Anyway, the coin flip really happened on Monday night — six times, and Clinton won all six. Hence the conspiracy theory. Because the odds of six straight coin-toss wins is 64-to-1, the theory says that Clinton must have cheated somehow.
It’s not like Clinton’s camp called “heads” each time and won, suggesting the coin was weighted. Team Clinton just got really, really lucky.
5. “Sticker Kid” was a Sanders plant
Peter Clinkscales — aka “Sticker Kid” — stole the show from Clinton by making silly faces while wearing stickers on his face as she spoke. Clinkscales was asked by a reporter after his moves went viral whether he supported Clinton, and he said he was still undecided, even though the Iowa caucuses had concluded by that point.
The Internet quickly discovered that Clinkscales had previously attended rallies for Clinton’s rival, Sanders. The Drake University student said Sanders “is pretty rad,” but claims he is still undecided. That didn’t stop many from suggesting that Clinkscales attended the Clinton rally to steal the candidate’s thunder.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
