Bernie Sanders sets sights on NH after narrow loss

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire - Monday turned to Tuesday without a declared winner of the Iowa caucus.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Hillary Clinton were in a dead heat in the state that holds first-in-the-nation status during the primary season.

Early Tuesday afternoon, Iowa's Democratic Party reported 100 percent of its precincts with Clinton eking out a win by 0.2 percentage points. The final tally had Clinton with 49.8 percent to Sanders 49.6 percent.

A precinct in Des Moines accounted for the missing report, the Des Moines Register reported. The hiccup occurred because a misunderstanding about who was expected to deliver the results.

Though precincts had yet to be reported, Clinton's press secretary claimed victory early Tuesday morning.

Concern about voter fraud was raised late Monday night when C-Span posted a video that showed that a Polk County caucus chair and a Clinton precinct captain did not conduct an actual count of the caucusgoers. Results were also slow to come in with about 5 percent of the precincts (roughly 90 sites) going unreported at the time Clinton and Sanders addressed their Iowa supporters.

Though Clinton stopped shy of claiming a win in her speech, she said that she was breathing a sigh of relief and thanked Iowa voters. In another Des Moines convention hall, a smiling Sanders also thanked voters and praised them for standing up to super PACs.

On a charter flight to New Hampshire, Sanders had no answers as to why the results were delayed.

“Your guess is as good as mine as to what happened,” Sanders said. “I can only hope and expect the count will be honest.”

Symone Sanders, spokeswoman for the campaign, said the delayed results were due to the Iowa Democratic Party’s failure to staff the precincts in question.

“They are asking the campaigns to sort it out,” she said to a gaggle of media waiting to be transported to the airport for their next leg of campaign coverage.

One of the journalists on board quipped, “Iowa just became Florida.”

“You said it, I did not,” Symone Sanders replied.

Win or lose, Bernie Sanders has a vote of confidence (though not a vote at the ballot) from Peter Diamondstone, who freely admits he and the Vermont senator have been both friends and foes, running against each other for elected office several times.

“I don’t think he treats one differently than the other,” Diamondstone said of wins and losses. “Whatever happens happens and he moves on. He’s very resilient, I think is the word.”

Diamondstone, a longtime member of Vermont’s far-left leaning Liberty Union Party to which  Sanders belonged before he started winning elections, had just one admonishment for those who questioned the democratic socialist's ability to win the primary: “Do not underestimate him.”

Terry Bouricius, a longtime political ally of Bernie Sanders and former Vermont state representative, said this primary has “some overlap” with the upset Sanders pulled off in 1981 when he won mayor of Burlington.

A picture from around that time shows Bouricius with the longshot mayor who has his arms raised in victory.

Had Bouricius believed they could win that first mayoral election?

“We both thought we had a realistic shot,” Bouricius said. “We didn’t think it was necessarily likely but we had a chance.”

Bernie Sanders seemed ready to do whatever it takes to improve his chances. After addressing his supporters in Iowa, he boarded a charter flight that took off for New Hampshire in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. The New Hampshire Primary takes place Feb. 9.

Sanders in dead heat after reports of record turnout

Posted on Feb. 2, 2016. Contact Emilie Stigliani on the road at (802) 310-8757 or estigliani@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/EmilieStigliani.