Bernie Sanders is not conceding Iowa to Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders has not yet conceded the Iowa Democratic caucus to Hillary Clinton, saying that his campaign wants "to take a look at" some precincts where the delegate allocation was decided with a flip of a coin.
"As I understand it there were some precincts where delegates were won with flip of the coin. We want to take a look at it," the Vermont senator told reporters in Keene, New Hampshire Tuesday. "I was on a plane last night, so we haven't had time to look at it. But I do think it's unfortunate that - I don't want to misspeak here - may be the case some delegates decided on flip of the coin."
Sanders said that would be "not best" for democracy.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton became the official winner of the caucus Tuesday after the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) released its final results from Monday night's caucus, showing Clinton winning just under four more state delegate equivalents than rival Bernie Sanders.
In terms of percentages, the former secretary of state won 49.9 percent of delegates and the Vermont senator won 49.6 percent.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Clinton earned 700.59 state delegate equivalents and Sanders received 696.82 state delegate equivalents. The Associated Press reported that the IDP will not recount the caucus vote.
Sanders indicated he will not get hung up on the results, stressing that Iowa and New Hampshire only allocate a tiny portion of delegates.
"I think media gets hung up on what happens if you lose this, what happens if you win this. And if Hillary Clinton lost in Iowa, would it be the end of the world? No," he said. "I am confident that at the end of the day we will bring forth the most major, political upset in the modern history of the United States, and we are going to win."
Sanders and Clinton are also still sparring about whether to add additional Democratic debates to the calendar in the coming months. The back-and-forth started last week when the New Hampshire Union Leader announced it would host a new Feb. 4 debate with MSNBC. Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley - who suspended his presidential bid Monday night -- readily accepted, but Sanders, who leads New Hampshire polls, initially nixed it. He countered with a proposal to add one debate each in March, April and May, and none on a Friday, Saturday or holiday weekend.
Clinton agreed, but there appears to be further bickering over the locations of the additional debates. Clinton has said one should take place in Flint, Michigan, where lead-poisoning in the city's water supply has left residents to deal with a public health crisis.
Sanders wants to see additional debates in California and New York, but Clinton has not agreed to a debate in New York. She said on CNN Tuesday that Sanders' campaign tried to "add new conditions" after she agreed to more debates.
Now, she's trying to turn the table on Sanders and is pressing him to show up for the MSNBC debate Thursday evening, even though Sanders' campaign has suggested he is holding out for Clinton to agree to a New York debate.
"We're in Bernie Sanders' backyard in New Hampshire. I sure hope he intends to show up in his neighboring state and let the people of New Hampshire see us both on the debate stage," she said.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Sanders said he was "amazed" that Clinton was refusing to debate in New York. But he added, "I hope and expect this thing will be resolved" even though the two campaigns are "still working on the details."