Hillary Clinton declared victory in the Iowa Democratic Party caucus late Monday night, but the counting continues, and the race between Clinton and challenger Bernie Sanders appears to be a virtual draw, if not an actual one.
And based on expectations coming in, it wouldn’t take much to declare Sanders the winner, if only because as recently as a few weeks ago it seemed a foregone conclusion that Clinton would win big.
“Nine months ago we had no political organization, we had no money, we had no name recognition and we were taking on the most powerful political organization in the country,” Sanders said late Monday. “Tonight, while the results are still not known, it looks like we are in a virtual tie,” he added. “It looks like we’ll have about half of the Iowa delegates.”
Sanders was headed overnight to New Hampshire, where polls published on Sunday put the U.S. senator from Vermont up by 20 points or more over the former secretary of state.
The Iowa caucuses came nine months after he launched his White House campaign as a 41-point underdog in Iowa to Clinton, who had been all but coronated by pundits and the party establishment.