The faded noise from Iowa reminds us how quickly a tornado can vanish
Pete Buttigieg at his campaign rally on Feb. 3 in Des Moines, Iowa. Credit: AP/Charlie Neibergall
The Iowa caucus was held two and a half weeks ago, but the auditing of votes and apportioning of delegates drag on as the Democratic scrum moves into its third state, Nevada.
A lack of immediate results had the feel of a party calamity in an age of instant communication. The drama was so intense, it was easy to forget that only 41 delegates were at stake in Iowa, out of more than 4,700 nationally.
Does anyone care about Iowa anymore?
At least two candidates still do, for now.
This week, after a recanvass, Pete Buttigieg's lead in the delegate contest over Sen. Bernie Sanders in the first-in-the-nation contest shrank to less than a hundredth of a percentage point.
Last week, Buttigieg was on track to get 13 delegates, and Sanders 12, with the rest going to those trailing.
Now Sanders is seeking a recount, which could flip the results. Sanders won the most votes, but Iowa gives different numerical weight to different counties, contributing to the complication.
All this might be more irrelevant if the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and the independent senator from Vermont had not come so close in New Hampshire as well.
The Granite State results had nine delegates for Sanders, nine for Buttigieg and a surprising six for Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.
Sanders again led the raw vote total.
On Saturday comes the Nevada caucus. Polls show the state poised to move the Sanders campaign farther forward, while various question marks surround his rivals'. Sanders placed a close second there in 2016.
But record-spending Mike Bloomberg is in the fray for March 3, Super Tuesday, when Democrats will vote in 14 states including California. Before that is the potentially pivotal South Carolina primary, on Feb. 29.
The whole primary dynamic could shift at any point.
From the sidelines, of course, President Donald Trump mocked the Iowa counting debacle. This meant nothing in practical terms, especially since his biggest in-state ally, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), said right away that the Hawkeye State would continue to hold the first presidential-nominating competition in the nation.
By the time Troy Price, the Iowa Democratic chairman, quit the post last week, his image was already shrinking in the rearview mirror.
"The fact is that Democrats deserved better than what happened on caucus night. As chair of this party, I am deeply sorry for what happened and bear the responsibility for any failures on behalf of the Iowa Democratic Party," he wrote in his resignation letter.
This nomination to oppose an incumbent president was always going to be a long slog. New York and several other Northeastern states don't vote until April 28.
Around here, the political audience can forget Iowa's quirks and cornfields for another four years.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
