Iowa caucus: Bernie Sanders threat validated as Hillary Clinton scrapes to unconvincing win

The left-wing insurgency in the Democratic party of Senator Bernie Sanders roared into New Hampshire after fighting Hillary Clinton – once the prohibitive favourite – to a virtual draw in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

Few would have expected that Mr Sanders’ ragged rhetoric and leftist prescriptions would trigger a wave of support, especially from young voters, so powerful it would bring Ms Clinton to the brink of humiliation in the so-called Hawkeye state.

The Iowa drama was not quite over as Mr Sanders refused to concede and demanded access to voting sheets which showed his rival ahead by a fraction of one per cent. Under the arcane rules in Iowa, caucus votes are converted into shares of delegates. Party officials said Ms Clinton had secured 699.57 delegates against 695.49 for Mr Sanders. That was the equivalent of 49.9 per cent and 49.6 per cent respectively, the closest outcome for Democrats in Iowa history.

A combination of counting glitches and disputes at some of the nearly 1,700 precincts fuelled the suspense on Monday night, as big screens at both the candidates’ victory parties showed each at around 50 per cent. In six caucuses where support was split, some delegates were awarded by the toss of a coin, each apparently going against Mr Sanders.

The terror was real for Ms Clinton, who eight years ago lost unexpectedly to a rival Democrat candidate, Barack Obama. She was first to appear before her supporters on Monday night, even with “Too Close To Call” still plastered on TV monitors behind her. With husband Bill and her daughter, Chelsea, at her back, she knew she had at least escaped cataclysm.

“As I stand here tonight breathing a big sigh of relief – thank you, Iowa!” she said.

Across town, Mr Sanders could only laugh as he stepped onto the podium and his supporters erupted into chants of “Feel the Bern”. Waving his hands and jabbing his finger in the air for emphasis, he too declared: “Iowa, I thank you.”

He added: “Nine months ago when I came to this beautiful state, we had no political organisation, we had no money, we had no name recognition and we were taking on the most powerful political organisation in the United State of America.”

His come-from-behind effort had been driven by a textbook ground operation that harnessed brigades of mostly younger Iowans inspired by his call to up-end the status quo in the country and in his own party – and his promise of a “revolution” to cleanse the political system of billionaire donations and re-cast the economic system so the spoils would go to all and not the top one per cent.

Remarkably, Mr Sanders won the backing of 84 per cent of those aged 17 to 29, even out-doing Mr Obama’s record here in 2008. He also dominated among “very liberal” Democrats, according to entrance polls. But that advantage was cancelled out by Ms Clinton’s equally strong performance among “moderate” and “conservative” voters and, in particular, among women.

The effective draw in Iowa ensures that Mr Sanders will threaten Ms Clinton for the long haul, wrecking her initial plan to wrap up the nomination swiftly, conserving money and energy to attack the Republicans. Early polls suggest he remains on course for an easy win in New Hampshire.

But as less white, far less liberal states come into play (Nevada and South Carolina in three weeks and much of the South on Super Tuesday, 1 March), he arguably needed to beat Ms Clinton in Iowa and New Hampshire to have a hope of securing the nomination.

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