Hillary Clinton crowned 'apparent winner' of Iowa Democratic caucus

With 99.9 percent of precincts counted in Iowa, Hillary Clinton leads Sen. Bernie Sanders by a narrow margin of 49.9 percent to 49.5 percent, or 700 "state delegate equivalents" to 695. That's close enough for NBC News, which "declared Clinton the apparent winner" of the Iowa Democratic caucus.

Not surprisingly, Clinton's campaign agrees with that assessment, though it might quibble with the "apparent" part. "Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa caucus," Clinton's Iowa state director, Matt Paul, said in a statement. "Statistically, there is no outstanding information that could change the results and no way Sen. Sanders can overcome Secretary Clinton's advantage."

And that appears to be true, barring any miscounts. The Iowa Democratic Party said early Tuesday that the one outstanding precinct, in Des Moines, will award 2.28 state delegate equivalents, not enough to boost Sanders (695.49 SDEs) over Clinton (699.57 SDEs), even if he wins the final precinct.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up