DES MOINES, IOWA — Democratic 2020 presidential candidates took the stage in Iowa on Monday night — despite the hours-long delay from the state party in reporting results of the crucial caucuses.
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar was first to address her supporters in Des Moines, acknowledging that they didn’t yet have official tallies of the first-in-the-nation caucuses.
“You probably heard we don’t know the results. But I did not want to let another minute go by without thanking all of you,” she told the crowd.
“We know there’s delays but we know one thing: We are punching above our weight.”
Just before midnight, and with only about 25% of precincts reporting, former Vice President Joe Biden declared a half-baked victory to his fans.
“The indications are it’s going to be close,” he said at Drake University.
“We’re walking out of here with our share of delegates,” Biden added. “We don’t know exactly what it is yet but we feel good about where we are.”
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, said the results were “too close to call” and used much of her speech to rail against President Trump.
“We don’t know all the results tonight, but tonight has already shown that Americans have a hunger for big structural change,” she said.
And Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was optimistic.
“Let me begin by stating that I imagine — have a strong feeling that at some point the results will be announced,” Sanders told his supporters.
“And when those results are announced I have a good feeling we’re going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa.”
The Iowa Democratic Party said the caucus results were delayed over unspecified “quality checks.” And that the problem was a “reporting issue” and not a “hack.”