Jamie Dupree

As votes trickle in from Iowa, Dems throw shade in New Hampshire

From Derry, New Hampshire — Over 48 hours after the votes were cast, Democrats on Wednesday night were finally reporting over 90 percent of precincts in the Iowa Caucuses, as the vote counting snafu was continuing to draw some grumbling and jokes on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, where candidates have forged on without knowing the final results from the first caucus of the 2020 campaign.

"At this rate, New Hampshire will be the first in the country to get the vote," Joe Biden told an audience in Somersfield, New Hampshire on Wednesday, drawing knowing laughter from the crowd.

In a town hall in Derry, Bernie Sanders also started his event by referencing the troubles in the Hawkeye State.

"As some of you know, they are still counting the votes in Iowa," Sanders said.

"I assume, one of these years, that vote count will be completed," Sanders said to chuckles from the crowd, as Sanders remains in a one-two race with Pete Buttigieg in Iowa.

But no one can declare victory in Iowa just yet, as the issue clearly remained a sore spot for the candidates.

As of 11:15 pm ET on Wednesday night, 96 percent of Iowa precincts were reporting. This is the top five:

Pete Buttigieg - 26.4 percent

Bernie Sanders - 25.7 percent

Elizabeth Warren - 18.3 percent

Joe Biden - 15.8 percent

Amy Klobuchar 12.1 percent

While Buttigieg led in what's referred to as 'State Delegate Equivalents' - Sanders was leading in raw vote totals at the caucus, both on the first ballot, and after voters realigned with other campaigns.

Buttigieg remained close behind Sanders in both of those Iowa metrics.

But even as the Iowa Democratic Party released more vote totals on Wednesday, officials at one point had to correct their latest update.

The lack of a definitive winner several days after Iowa deprived either Sanders or Buttigieg of the chance to take advantage of that in a public way on the stump in the Granite State - but one tracking poll suggests that Buttigieg may be seeing a boost in New Hampshire.

That will be something to watch as Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary nears - and as Democrats get closer to actually knowing the winner in Iowa.

The Iowa Secretary of State - who is not involved at all in the caucus vote counting - said Democrats were right not to be in a rush.

"The accuracy of the Iowa Democratic Party's vote totals is much more important than the timeliness of releasing the results," said Paul Pate, an Iowa Republican.

The Iowa GOP knows that all too well - as back in 2012, Mitt Romney was declared the winner on caucus night by just eight votes - but two weeks later, the party acknowledged that there were counting mistakes, and ultimately said Rick Santorum was the narrow winner.

Romney went on to win the Republican nomination, while Santorum said he was deprived of the momentum he might have gained by winning in Iowa on caucus night.

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