Iowa's Republican Party isn't dunking on Iowa Democrats for bungling their caucus
Monday night was a disaster for Iowa's Democratic Party. But the Iowa Republican Party wasn't celebrating the embarrassing delays in the Democrats' caucus reporting.
The Iowa Democratic Party debuted a new system that was supposed to increase transparency by reporting how candidates fared in the first round of caucusing, where they ended up after realignment, and how many delegates each candidate won. Instead, the party got ire from frustrated candidates and cable news shows, mockery by President Trump's campaign, and conspiracy theories.
Jeff Kaufmann, chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, told everyone to calm down. "Look, if there is something nefarious, then everybody is gonna be able to see that, everybody's gonna see that by checking the results here," he said on KDSM-TV. "As long as we've got a paper trail, as long as it's a (transparent) process, everybody's gonna be able to follow through and make sure we understand what is going on here."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
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.
Even Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), a hardline conservative with a conspiratorial bent, counseled the Iowa Democrats to slow down and get this right so the "Iowa Caucuses can remain first in the nation." Iowa Republicans, like Iowa Democrats, zealously guard their first-in-the-nation caucus, and that special status was already under attack before Monday's debacle.
The Iowa caucuses survived a Republican fiasco eight years ago, and this too shall pass, maybe.
-
The Mint’s 250th anniversary coins face a whitewashing controversyThe Explainer The designs omitted several notable moments for civil rights and women’s rights
-
‘If regulators nix the rail merger, supply chain inefficiency will persist’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Trump HHS slashes advised child vaccinationsSpeed Read In a widely condemned move, the CDC will now recommend that children get vaccinated against 11 communicable diseases, not 17
-
‘One Battle After Another’ wins Critics Choice honorsSpeed Read Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest film, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, won best picture at the 31st Critics Choice Awards
-
Son arrested over killing of Rob and Michele ReinerSpeed Read Nick, the 32-year-old son of Hollywood director Rob Reiner, has been booked for the murder of his parents
-
Rob Reiner, wife dead in ‘apparent homicide’speed read The Reiners, found in their Los Angeles home, ‘had injuries consistent with being stabbed’
-
Hungary’s Krasznahorkai wins Nobel for literatureSpeed Read László Krasznahorkai is the author of acclaimed novels like ‘The Melancholy of Resistance’ and ‘Satantango’
-
Primatologist Jane Goodall dies at 91Speed Read She rose to fame following her groundbreaking field research with chimpanzees
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
