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Iowa debacle haunts 2020 Democrats

Pete Buttigieg in New Hampshire yesterday. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

Pete Buttigieg sees a moment to overtake Joe Biden with an electability message after the scrambled Iowa results left some top Biden supporters distraught.

If the partial results released yesterday by the Iowa Democratic Party had been trumpeted Monday night instead of being delayed by the app snafu, Buttigieg would have been a national sensation.

  • Instead, Buttigieg's kinda-victory declaration before results were out — which his rivals' surrogates criticized as presumptuous and shady — was drowned out by the macro story of the Democrats' embarrassing disaster.

By the numbers: Iowa Democrats released results from 71% of precincts, showing Buttigieg with the highest percentage of delegates thus far at 26.8%.

  • That was followed by Bernie Sanders at 25.2%, Elizabeth Warren at 18.4% and Biden at 15.5%.
  • Sanders led the popular vote with 31,428 votes, followed by Buttigieg at 27,515, Warren at 24,175 and Biden at 18,902.
  • AP said the results weren't enough to call a winner.

The big picture: Sanders did well in Iowa and is best-positioned to win New Hampshire.

  • The bigger question is what happens to the other candidates, including the under-performing Biden.
  • Biden now needs to convince donors to float him despite the disappointing showing in Iowa.
  • If Buttigieg's lead holds through the final tally, will he get the meaningful benefits in fundraising, media and voting momentum that an Iowa winner could expect?

Between the lines: The Democratic field has spent stunningly little time campaigning in New Hampshire.

  • Some candidates figured it was a waste of time to campaign because Sanders and Warren appeared so strong there.
  • The whiteness of the state doesn't help Biden. Nor does the fact that Biden redirected planned advertising from New Hampshire into Iowa, where he camped out.

What to watch: The ABC News debate in Manchester on Friday night could change the dynamics heading into next Tuesday's vote.

  • Think back to 2016's Republican primary debate in New Hampshire when Chris Christie destroyed Marco Rubio's once-promising campaign with a brutal takedown. 

Go deeper:

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Go deeper

Jeff Tracy
Updated 6 hours ago - Sports

The potential GOAT of chess faces intriguing challenger

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The World Chess Championship between Norway's Magnus Carlsen and Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi began on Friday, 1,094 days after Carlsen won his fourth consecutive title.

Why it matters: During the long, COVID-fueled layoff, chess entered a new era, and with the championship finally here, the age-old game is ready for its close-up.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
Torey Van Oot, author of Twin Cities
7 hours ago - Energy & Environment

Department of Interior proposes raising cost of drilling on public lands

A horizontal drilling rig and a pump jack sit on federal land in Lea County, New Mexico. Photo: Callaghan O'Hare/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Oil and gas companies should pay more to drill on federal lands and waters, the Department of the Interior argued in a report released Friday, saying that the current rates were "outdated."

Driving the news: The Department of Interior report said that the federal government's oil and gas leasing and permitting program "fails to provide a fair return to taxpayers, even before factoring in the resulting climate-related costs that must be borne by taxpayers."

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow
TuAnh Dam
7 hours ago - Health

U.S. to restrict air travel from 8 countries over new COVID variant concerns

A COVID-19 vaccine is administered. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The U.S. will impose new air travel restrictions in response to the Omicron variant, a new COVID strain first detected in South Africa, President Biden announced Friday.

The big picture: Air travel from South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique and Malawi will be restricted starting on Monday.

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow