Iowa Caucus Discussion.

Watched til late last night.

I'm always struck by Iowa, I mean, it seems a pretty archaic way to pick the candidates for leader of the free world. Plus it reeeeeally pisses me off how much time and money is spent in Iowa, NH and SC. Why should those three srates front load who the rest of us get to choose from in a national election?

Thanks for all the updates and drama.

Will look for results this morning!

Hillary 700
Sanders 695

Not all delegates counted as of yet.

99.7% reporting.

Real nail-biter last night! It was like watching a basketball playoff - exciting stuff!

Woke up and thought, "Okay, let's check it!" and it's still the same as it was last night when I had to crash....

coin-toss? WTH?

Anyway - Go Bernie!!!!!

a reply to: BuzzyWigs

I think Hillary asked jeb some advice in how to win a close race.

a reply to: DBCowboy

6 of Hillary's delegates were won via coin toss. If they split those 50/50 it would be 697 vs. 698, Sanders with a 1 person lead. Crazy close stuff.

I can see the headlines now. "Vote Hillary 2016 - I won Iowa because of a coin flip."

Honestly though, I'm just infuriated that RNG and luck can have an effect upon an election. Even if they all favored Bernie I'd be pissed. They shouldn't have been part of the system to begin with.

All votes are in.

Hillary won by a fraction.

a reply to: DBCowboy

It's absurd how close this was. It was ultimately literally decided by a coin toss. I'm half surprised they didn't roll dice instead. And if you remove that random chance, Bernie ekes out a stupidly narrow victory.

I think this is a Sanders victory. Of course, I'm biased because I'm one of his supporters, but this essentially shatters Clinton's election message. "Vote for me because I'm the front runner."
You don't get to say that when you win a state because of chance. When you eke out a 0.2% victory against the "Crazy Unelectable Socialist Jew"

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
It's absurd how close this was. It was ultimately literally decided by a coin toss. I'm half surprised they didn't roll dice instead.

If they rolled dice do you think the outcome would have been different?

Bernie would have failed his saving throw versus sorcery and still lost.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

Because of Hillary's +20 to Save DCs cash item? Only $3,000 and a Goldmann Sachs endorsement.
I wasn't meaning to say that they should have rolled a dice, though. Unless you have specially made ones, I'm fairly sure they're actually slightly less random than coins. (Though neither of them can be used to get a perfect 50/50 split.)

This tweet from Snowden is pure gold.
I didn't get the joke at first, sadly.

a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

I'm surprised by the results. Can't say I saw this coming.

NH should be an easy win for Sanders.

a reply to: kosmicjack

In theory, it's a built in safety mechanism to ensure the concerns of a highly marginalized, statistically irrelevant group of people are heard above the crushing din that is coastal politics. Which is a noble goal to be sure, but please remember that these states crown the inevitable losers, more often than not.

Does anyone remember President Santorum?

a reply to: DBCowboy

I don't think anyone did. I think most people were expecting a 3-4 point Hillary win, or a 3-4 point Bernie win. A 0.3% tie where the difference is accounted for by random chance and "missing" data is crazy.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

I'm surprised by the results. Can't say I saw this coming.

NH should be an easy win for Sanders.

And the "extinction" of Donald Trump....

originally posted by: olaru12

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

I'm surprised by the results. Can't say I saw this coming.

NH should be an easy win for Sanders.

And the "extinction" of Donald Trump....

Nothing is a given in this race.

a reply to: olaru12

Trump still has a fair chance. It's true that this is a reasonable setback for him, but it's not impossible to recover from.

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

I'm surprised by the results. Can't say I saw this coming.

NH should be an easy win for Sanders.

There's a method to figuring out who has been selected for us. I honestly thought it was obvious....

a reply to: MotherMayEye

If the establishment is behind Sanders then they're really going to be regretting it once he's elected President.

originally posted by: Eilasvaleleyn
a reply to: olaru12

Trump still has a fair chance. It's true that this is a reasonable setback for him, but it's not impossible to recover from.

He doesn't want to recover, His huge ego has been bruised. He will point the finger at the STUPID Iowa voters and slowly fade into political obscurity after the NH voters reject his swaggering, pompous campaign style.

He could save his bacon by becoming a little more laid back and reasonable but I don't think anyone would believe that either. His aggressive style only appeals to the adolescent minded tough guy wanna bees that he panders to: Not adults....

originally posted by: MotherMayEye

originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: Eilasvaleleyn

I'm surprised by the results. Can't say I saw this coming.

NH should be an easy win for Sanders.

There's a method to figuring out who has been selected for us. I honestly thought it was obvious....

Oh I don't expect any "hope and change".

We're screwed regardless.

But if the plane is going to crash, might as well enjoy the view on the way down.