There were only two people running. When the field is large, a caucus is a bad idea. Republicans had a large field in 2012 and the Iowa Caucus for them ended like ours this year appear to be headed toward, a vote that all sides questioned.

(little laughing emoji guy rolling on the floor)

No conspiracy here - just incompetence.

When the field is big, a ranked choice primary is the only sane solution.

Caucuses are terrible for oh so many reasons. We gotta get smarter as a party.

Only it’s not the history anyone thought they would be witnessing going in tonight. By the way, we’re now assured that the story from whatever happens won’t be the winner, it’ll be the delay in results. So no real benefit to a win whoever it is relative to past years. The results issue tramples that.

in 2012. The result was questioned roundly and we learned nothing from that or the lessons of 2016 relative to caucuses.

We are so accustomed to "instant" results, folks! Frankly, from my point of view, caucuses are a smart, and very fair, way of deciding who your candidate is going to be. Iowa has ranked choices -- if at first your candidate doesn't succeed, then you have the opportunity to put your second choice forward. And it brings together members of your Party so that together, you can talk about who -- and why -- your candidate is to most likely to defeat the traitor in the White House.

The problem with what you’re saying is I personally know a couple who live just outside Des Moines who could not participate tonite because they have no child care availability for their 5 year old. How many others found themselves in a similar dilemma? That’s not democratic. And it sure isn’t my definition of fair. It’s a charming idea that’s time has come and gone, I’m afraid.

I think they went to marked ballots for the next one. We should drop caucuses all together and go to ranked choice closed primaries across the board.

Caucuses tend to be a goat rodeo anyhow, and this one always gets way more attention and weight than it deserves because it's first. So everybody thinks the winner has won something more important than it really is - but Iowa gets only 41 pledged delegate votes.

think something nefarious is going on??

It sounds like this year they were trying out a new process and nobody knew quite how to do it, so it got to be an even bigger goatfuck than usual.

I live here and am very tired of the long drawn out caucus process. It really suppresses voter turnout because many people are not willing to take two or three hours out of their evening to vote. Many pm shift workers can't get off to vote. Elderly and disabled cannot easily attend. People without babysitters can't easily attend. It is hard to find locations for all precincts big enough to allow all democratic voters to sit down together at once. And many business people do not want to vote openly out in public for fear of losing business. All in all it is not a good system, imo.

Rigged so-called primaries just might be dead.

if we can't drag you Neanderthals kicking and screaming into the 21st Century maybe we can at least get you guys up to the 20th one.

You see, there's this newfangled gadget they came up with a while back...it's called a "ballot". The way it works is that people can come into certain designated places anytime of the day and fill one out at their leisure. Then they drop it into a big box and after the polls close you guys take them outta the box and count them up. Easy peasy, Japanesey.

It's a real neat concept that usually works really good...well, except for Florida.

For chrissakes, Iowa...even the friggin' Ancient Greeks used colored rocks to cast their votes. We'll all be happy to send you some if all you caucus clowns have there is farm dirt.

inadvertently exclude the most vulnerable - the working poor.

Parents who cannot arrange for childcare
Single parents
Nursing home residents
Those with compromised immune systems
People who are uncomfortable in crowds
The differently abled
Those who are afraid of bullies and peer pressure
People who happen to not feel well that day
People in hospital
Those who work evenings
People with transportation challenges
Anyone who had recent surgery or other challenging procedure
Those who live in truly rural/isolated areas
Anyone physically unable to tolerate the whole 2-4 hour process

There's more to add to the list, I'm sure - but point made.

. . .with allowances for absentee and early voting.

This is a ridiculous way to choose a nominee.

RIP FOREVER

I get it. The results are slow. The process is clumsy. The preferences and ballots are far from secret.

But I sat in a middle school gym with 571 of my neighbors and talked for two hours with them about issues, candidates and processes. I haven't done that in years, if not decades.

It was a fantastic experience. And it should have been the prelude to a secret-ballot primary tomorrow.

Still, I will treasure my Iowa caucus experience, even if it may be my ... and others' last.

The delays? I'm a journalism teacher, and we tell our students every day that it's better to be right than first. What's wrong with that?

Further, my wife and I caucused for Warren, and it took two hours for us to get the first ballot done. In our precinct, Warren and Sanders were the only viable candidates at 9:05 p.m. Buttigieg and Klobuchar were close to viability, while Biden and Yang were not. Other candidates, including Steyer had scattered votes. The wrangling that ensued was not going to end soon, and I needed a beer, so we left soon after. I don't doubt that our precinct just ended its process minutes ago.

Stay calm. Be patient. We'll get an accurate count and a great candidate.

..and I wasn’t one bit impressed. I still don’t know wtf was going on. What’s wrong with “voting”?

I have no idea who did well, or not, overall.

I watched on MSNBC as they talked about one prescient that had 111 people caucus for Bernie, 46 for Warren, and 42 for Pete-

And when it was done, they awarded 2 delegates to Bernie, 2 to Warren, and 2 to a Pete.

Huh? The top person had 3 times as many come out, and each gets exactly the same number of delegates????

My wife said- “Well, maybe that’s delegate redistribution for you. Republicans will have a field day with that!”

of a city out east. Super Tuesday maybe, back to the movie.

No question I made the correct choice. The process and the score were sensible in curling

that the same folks who are running this clusterf*ck caucus are gonna be in charge of scoring at this year's Summer Olympics.

Hopefully we'll have the results before the 2022 Winter Games.

Can't conduct a proper poll and can't run a practical primary.

Here's a new state motto for you folks...

Iowa: "We Know Corn - Not Computers"

Sure glad you only have 6 electoral votes because apparently you guys can't count to 10.