The results from Iowa are still trickling in, but however much confusion there is in Des Moines, the choices that lie ahead for Democrats are clear. There are some questions the party’s leaders and voters can’t put off answering for much longer.
How long will they prop up former Vice President Joe Biden? Whoever is ultimately crowned the winner in Iowa, Biden was among the losers — a distant fourth place finish from the nominal frontrunner and establishment favorite in the kind of state he is supposed to be able to win back from President Trump.
We’ve seen establishment candidates survive weak showings in the early states only to right the ship in a state like South Carolina before, usually on the Republican side. But nobody has had to do so from such a position of weakness. Neither George H.W. Bush nor Mitt Romney finished fourth in Iowa. Bob Dole actually won, however narrowly. John McCain bypassed the caucuses in 2008 and had a clear path to victory in New Hampshire. He still came in third. Biden barely performed like a top-tier candidate.
Should centrist Democrats switch to Pete Buttigieg? The former South Bend mayor is the early ‘winner’ of Iowa, even if winning the delegate count while losing the popular vote is a tough sell in a party that supposedly wants to abolish the Electoral College and has already reduced the role of its ‘superdelegates’ in the 2020 nomination process. Still, he is more youthful and vibrant than Biden. Mayor Pete is an undeniable political talent.
At the same time, Buttigieg clearly rubs vast swathes of progressives in his own age bracket the wrong way. He built the résumé of someone who has been reciting his inaugural address in the mirror since junior high school. He has so far gotten away with the opportunistic dancing from left to center and back that doomed Kamala Harris. How many people the online left truly represents is an open question. But Buttigieg has an even bigger problem with black voters that would be risky to carry into a general election. He’s also never been elected anywhere larger than South Bend.
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Democrats are doing everything that Bernie Sanders doesn't win, so far only 72% of votes have been publicly released and Buttigieg leads by less than 1%
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