Iowa Democratic Party huddles with campaigns over caucus results meltdown
Amy Klobuchar talks to her supporters on a caucus night marred by delayed results. (FOX 9)
DES MOINES, Iowa (FOX 9) - The Iowa Democratic Party says the results of Monday’s caucuses will not be released until later Tuesday at the earliest as officials check the tallies by hand for inconsistencies.
First, there were problems with the mobile app that the local party chairs use to report their precinct results to the state democratic party. Then later, there were reports of jammed phone lines when the county party chairs tried that method of reporting their results.
FOX 9 was at U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar’s watch party Monday night, where there was confusion and frustration from campaign officials with what was going on.
The state Democratic Party issued vague statements about what exactly was amiss. Later in the night, there a phone call between the state party and representatives from all the campaign.
The call was tense, the campaigns had many questions and it ended when the state party hung up, a Democratic source told FOX 9.
Finally, at 1 a.m., there was a press call between the state party and reporters, lasting less than two minutes. The party took no questions and promised results later Tuesday.
When it became clear there were not going to be any results Monday night, Klobuchar was the first candidate to speak. She took the stage around 10:20 p.m. and said, even though there are no results, she would be traveling to New Hampshire to prepare for the next primary.
Klobuchar was among the candidates who go on private planes in Des Moines last night and flew to New Hampshire. She landed at 3:30 a.m. and said that no matter the results in Iowa, she is moving on to New Hampshire.