The Democratic National Committee is now throwing its Iowa affiliate under the bus and demanding a recanvass of Monday’s caucus results.
Enough is enough. 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.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) February 6, 2020
DNC Chairman Tom Perez is right about the lack of public confidence. An analysis by the New York Times confirmed on Thursday that the official results released by the Iowa Democratic Party are riddled with errors and inconsistencies — some stemming from individual precincts, and others from the party itself. In some cases, the totals submitted by individual precincts directly contradict the official results released by the Iowa Democratic Party, the Times reported.
Due to this internal confusion, it’s safe to say the official results will be widely questioned regardless of who wins. But it doesn’t help that the two leading candidates, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders, are separated by such a narrow margin that it’s unclear who, exactly, is on top. Earlier this week, it appeared Buttigieg was ahead. But now, it looks like Sanders might yet pull it out. And of course, there’s also the question of which measure of victory to go by — caucusgoers (Sanders wins easily) or the traditional measure of delegate equivalents?
Given the inconsistencies and tight margins, a recanvass isn’t an outlandish suggestion. But this demand should have come from one of the campaigns, not from the DNC, and it probably should have been demanded in private. By publicly questioning the Iowa Democratic Party on Twitter, Perez has thrown the national party into a personal dispute and opened the national party up to criticism from those who will interpret this as an attempt to pick a side.
The Sanders camp already believes the DNC wronged Sanders in 2016, with good reason. And the timing of Perez’s recanvass demand will only exacerbate this open wound. Sanders began to inch above Buttigieg just hours before Perez called on the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass. How is this supposed to look?
Perez’s walk-back a few hours later made things even worse. Perez clarified that a recanvass doesn’t necessarily mean a recount and that he’s specifically concerned with the way the Iowa Democratic Party allocated its state delegate equivalents, according to CNN. Keep in mind: Sanders is currently overtaking Buttigieg in state delegate equivalents. In short, the DNC chairman is actively raising questions about a calculating process that has helped Sanders overtake Buttigieg.
The Iowa caucuses have been nothing but chaos and confusion, but Perez is making things worse. If this is his idea of damage control, he should think again.
