Iowa caucuses: With 100% of precincts reporting, Buttigieg and Sanders top Democratic field

With 100% of the precinct results now in, according to the Iowa Democratic Party, Sanders maintains his edge in the "popular vote" final choice and Buttigieg his slight advantage in state delegate equivalents.

CBS News estimates that as of Thursday night, Sanders and Buttigieg have amassed the same number of national delegates – 10 each – along with 6 for Warren, pending further CBS News estimates of the remaining national delegates. Iowa has 41 total.

The deadline to request recanvasses or recounts for candidates or campaigns is Friday at noon. 

— Adam Brewster, Anthony Salvanto and Caroline Linton  

Despite a disappointing finish in Iowa, Andrew Yang tweeted Thursday that it "sure looks like Bernie won Iowa. Excited to compete for the win in New Hampshire on Tuesday!"

CBS News confirmed Thursday that Yang's presidential campaign has fired "dozens" of staffers following his poor showing in the Iowa caucuses, including the national political and policy directors as well as the deputy national policy director.

A senior campaign official said  "this was planned, pre-Iowa caucus, and it was always part of the calculation. It's similar to the news coming out of the Biden campaign."

Yang's campaign manager Zach Graumann said it was part of their "original plan" to start "winding down our Iowa operations and restructuring to compete as the New Hampshire primary approaches."

"These actions are a natural evolution of the campaign post-Iowa, same as other campaigns have undertaken, and Andrew Yang is going to keep fighting for the voices of the more than 400,000 supporters who have donated to the campaign and placed a stake in the future of our country," Graumann said.

The news of Yang's campaign shake-up was first reported by Politico.

— Ben Mitchell and Caroline Linton 

CBS News estimates that at this point Sanders (10 national delegates) and Buttigieg (10 national delegates) are even in the national delegates that we can allocate so far – Warren (6) is also in position to pick up some delegates. The remainder of Iowa's 41 we have yet to allocate. Others, including Biden and Klobuchar,  remain in contention for some, though we have not estimated these yet.

More than two days after the Iowa caucuses began, results have still not been reported from 3% of the precincts around the state. While the Iowa Democratic Party is calling "the accuracy and integrity of the results" a priority, there were some data that raised questions on the party's site.

A CBS News analysis of data on the state Democratic party website found that there were more than 70 precincts where there was a higher total of participants listed on the second alignment than the initial alignment. It's not immediately clear whether any statewide delegate equivalents (SDEs) were impacted. Those ultimately determine how many national delegates a candidate wins. But the reporting discrepancies have raised questions about the data.

It also isn't immediately clear what led to those numbers that were reported. The analysis was based on the reports of data that were presented to the public by the Iowa Democratic Party. 

— Anthony Salvanto, Adam Brewster and Musadiq Bidar

In the wake of the chaos following the Iowa caucuses, New Hampshire officials said Thursday they are "going to get it right. We've done it right for 100 years, and we're going to keep getting it right."

"When our citizens cast their ballot, they know their vote will be counted correctly with integrity, and on time," Governor Chris Sununu told reporters. "But given the news and uncertainty out of Iowa, I want to ensure the public that the systems we have in place here in New Hampshire are truly beyond reproach. We are the first-in-the-nation primary state. And while Iowa has a caucus, we are the first true primary election of the 2020 calendar, and we've earned that honor over the past 100 years."

On caucus night in Iowa, the state party hotlines were jammed. In response, New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon J. MacDonald said Thursday the state will set up a hotline for questions and concerns. 

"If you ever have trouble reaching us, you'll also be recovering a press release with an email address we have law enforcement resources available if something occurs on Election Day," MacDonald said. 

On Friday, the U.S. attorney general's office will meet and brief both political parties and candidate campaigns – counsel and staff – at the Department of Justice, responding to any concerns or inquiries.

Speaking in Manchester, New Hampshire, Sanders declared a "very strong victory" in the Iowa caucuses.

"Even though the vote tabulations have been extremely slow, we are now at a point with some 97 percent of the precincts reporting where our campaign is winning the popular initial vote by some 6,000 votes," Sanders said. "In other words, some 6,000 more Iowans came out on caucus night to support our candidacy than the candidacy of anyone else. And when 6,000 more people come out for you in an election than your nearest opponent, we here in Northern New England call that a victory."

Sanders said he should have given this speech three days ago, but the Iowa Democratic Party failed to count the voters  "in a timely fashion."

"That screwup has been extremely unfair to the people of Iowa," he said. "It has been unfair to the candidates, all of the candidates and all of their supporters."

The Iowa Democratic Party responded to a call from DNC chairman Tom Perez for a recanvass of the Iowa caucuses, saying it is prepared if "any presidential campaign" makes a request.

"Should any presidential campaign in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan request a recanvass, the IDP is prepared," said state party chair Troy Price in a statement. "In such a circumstance, the IDP will audit the paper records of report, as provided by the precinct chairs and signed by representatives of presidential campaigns. This is the official record of the Iowa Democratic caucus, and we are committed to ensuring the results accurately reflect the preference of Iowans."
 
Price did not mention the DNC or Perez in his statement. 
 
Price said the IDP is "working diligently to report the final 54 precincts to get as close to final reporting as possible."
 
"While I fully acknowledge that the reporting circumstances on Monday night were unacceptable, we owe it to the thousands of Iowa Democratic volunteers and caucus-goers to remain focused on collecting and reviewing incoming results," he said.
 
Price said that during the collection of records of results, the party "identified inconsistencies in the data and used our redundant paper records to promptly correct those errors."
 
Presidential campaigns have until Friday at noon to submit a written request for recanvassing, which must include the scope and an explanation of the request. 

Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has called for the Iowa Democratic Party to conduct a recanvass after technological issues roiled the reporting of results for Monday's Democratic caucuses.

"Enough is enough," Perez tweeted. "In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass."

Results from Monday's caucuses have been released on a rolling basis and the most recent results, with 97% of precincts reporting, show Buttigieg holding a slight lead over Sanders.

The Iowa Democratic Party's Iowa Delegate Selection Plan states that "any presidential candidate may request a recanvass of district or state results by submitting a request in writing to the Iowa Democratic Party Chair." 

A presidential candidate can also submit a written request  to the state party for a precinct-level review of caucus results.

Recanvassing requests must be received by the state party by Friday at noon. 

The Iowa Democratic Party's recanvass and recount manual defines a recanvass as "a hand audit of Caucus Math Worksheets and Reporting Forms to ensure that they were tallied and reported in the telephone intake sheets and caucus reporting application correctly." 
 
Recanvass requests are reviewed by the Recanvass/Recount Committee comprised of the Iowa Democratic Party Chair, Iowa Democratic Party Executive Committee, and other top state party officials.

— Melissa Quinn and Adam Brewster

Bernie Sanders chipped away at Pete Buttigieg's already razor-thin lead in State Delegate Equivalents when the Iowa Democratic Party released another update late Wednesday night. Buttigieg had 26.2% of the SDEs and Sanders 26.1%.

Elizabeth Warren was still in third place with 18.2%, Joe Biden was fourth with 15.8% and Amy Klobuchar was fifth with 12.2% .

With 96% of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg still has a razor thin lead in state delegate equivalents with 549.1 to Bernie Sanders' 533.1. Elizabeth Warren is holding steady in third place with 380.

As it stands now, Buttigieg has won 26.4% of the state delegate equivalents, with Sanders right behind with 25.7%.

The Iowa Democratic Party released more results Wednesday evening. With 92% of precincts reporting, Buttigieg still has a lead in state delegate equivalents at 26.5% but Sanders is close behind with 25.6%. Warren remains in third place.

The Iowa Democratic Party released results from more precincts on Wednesday afternoon, with Buttigieg maintaining his lead in delegates, while Sanders held onto a popular-vote lead. With 86% of precincts reporting, Buttigieg had 26.6% of delegates and Sanders was close behind, with 25.4%. 

Next, in third place, Warren had 18.3%, Biden had 15.9% and Klobuchar had 12%. 

The updated release amended results that had come in about an hour earlier that had incorrectly shown Tom Steyer at 1.2% and Deval Patrick at 1.1%. 

Steyer previously had 0.3% support. Patrick, who has campaigned exclusively in New Hampshire, had not received any state delegate equivalents (SDEs). The new totals showed Patrick with 0 SDEs and Steyer still at 0.3%. 

The Iowa Democratic Party did not say what caused the error.

The numbers were released — and then recalled — at the same time the Senate was voting on whether to remove President Trump from office. 

After updating its website to indicate 85% of results were in, the Iowa Democratic Party tweeted there "will be a minor correction to the last batch of results and we will be pushing an update momentarily."

The numbers that were released indicated notable bumps in support for Tom Steyer and Deval Patrick, raising some alarm bells. 

More results are expected to post on Wednesday, but there's been no word yet on whether all the data will be released by the end of the day. 

Why is it taking so long?
 
An aide to the Iowa Democratic Party said that the staff is "literally examining the photo or paper records that have been collected and matching it against the inputted response, which obviously takes time." 

This must be done for all three data sets: the first alignment, final alignment and the state delegate equivalents.  

With 75% of precincts reporting, Pete Buttigieg is holding onto his lead over Bernie Sanders, with 26.8% of the state delegate equivalents (SDEs). Sanders has 25.1%, and then Warren is in third place, with 18.2%, Biden is in fourth, with 15.6%, and Amy Klobuchar is fifth with 12.5%.

So far 1,320 precincts have reported. Here are the state delegate equivalent totals so far, according to the Iowa Democratic party. This is the total that determines the winner of the Iowa caucuses.

1. Buttigieg 442.197
2. Sanders 413.601
3. Warren 299.495
4. Biden 257.081
5. Klobuchar 205.969
6. Yang 17.414
7. Steyer 5.143
8. Uncommitted 2.766
9. Other 0.28
10. Bloomberg 0.133
11. Gabbard 0.114

The state party is releasing results on a rolling basis days after the caucuses because of technical problems Monday.

— Adam Brewster and Caroline Linton 
Ed O'Keefe contributed.

More results from the Iowa caucuses will be released Wednesday afternoon, a senior Democratic Party official tells CBS News. So far, 71% of the results of the caucuses have been reported by the Iowa Democratic Party. This release will bring the total to about 75%. 

— Ed O'Keefe and Caitlin Conant

—  Adam Brewster contributed 

On the trail in New Hampshire on Wednesday, Joe Biden called the Iowa results a "gut punch." 

Biden also went after the top two candidates in his remarks. He urged voters to think about who can beat President Trump, and said that if Sanders is the nominee, every Democrat in the country will be branded a democratic socialist, which is the term the Vermont senator uses to identify himself. 

Biden said that while Sanders attacks his "baggage," there are over 50 congressional Democrats who had Biden campaign for them in the 2018 election. Biden added he doubted that many Democrats wanted Sanders to campaign for them. 

Iowa Democratic caucus chairs were not trained on the app before the caucuses, Polk County Democratic Party chair Sean Bagniewski told CBS News Tuesday. They were only told about the app's existence and given instructions on how to download it.

In the wake of the failure of Iowa Democrats to release any results at all on the night of the caucuses, Bagniewski also took note of glitches in the app that emerged last week – people weren't able to download it, and they couldn't log in or test it.

By Thursday, Bagniewski said they were recommending that precinct chairs call in results, as they have during prior caucuses. He told the IDP that they would have a lot of precincts reporting their results by phone.

If Polk County, the largest county in Iowa, was having trouble figuring out the app, Bagniewski reasoned, "it was silly to think the rest of the state was doing any better." 

The Iowa Democratic Party says that the app was recording election data from the precincts properly, but it was failing to transmit all of it to headquarters. The party has not answered questions about how prepared it was for the volume of calls. On Caucus Night, county chairs were recruiting volunteers to go to offer help to the IDP.

Even though before this year, the precinct numbers were reported by phone, rather than through an app, the party had trouble keeping up with the volume of calls, putting caucus chairs on hold for over an hour in some cases.

— Musadiq Bidar contributed.

With results from 71% of Iowa's precincts announced, Pete Buttigieg has a slight state delegate edge over Bernie Sanders but it's the other way around in the popular vote. The state Democratic Party released additional results late Tuesday night. 

Buttigieg has 419 state delegate equivalents, compared to Sanders' 394. Elizabeth Warren has 287 while Joe Biden is in fourth place with 241. Amy Klobuchar is in fifth with 197. Yang picked up 16 state delegate equivalents and Steyer five.

In terms of percentage support of state delegate equivalents, Buttigieg leads with 26.8%, which is a 1.6 percentage-point margin over Sanders. Warren has 18.4% support, Biden 15.5% and Klobuchar 12.6%. Yang has 1.1% support and Steyer 0.3%.

When it comes to the popular vote, Sanders had 31,322 caucus attendees opting for him in the first round of vote allocation and 32,673 in the second round. Buttigieg's totals were  27,418 then 31,353; Warren had 24,041 then 25,692, Biden 18,814 then 16,447, Klobuchar 16,345 then 15,470, Yang 6,713 then 1,301 and Steyer 2,243 then 275.

 Pete Buttigieg took the stage before supporters in New Hampshire to tout results from more than half of precincts in Iowa that put him in a tight race with Bernie Sanders for the lead in the state.

"A little later than we anticipated, but better late than never, official, verified caucus results are coming in from the state of Iowa," Buttigieg said. "They're not complete but results are in from a majority of precincts, and they show our campaign in first place."

Buttigieg said the results coming out of Iowa are an "astonishing victory" for his campaign and candidacy that shows he can reach not only Democrats, but also independent and even "future former Republicans " ready to bring change to the country.

"We don't know all of the numbers but we know this much," he said. "A campaign that started a year ago with four staff members, no name recognition, no money, just a big idea, a campaign that some said should have no business even making this attempt, has taken its place at the front of this race to replace the current president with a better vision for the future."

The results, he added, validate "the idea that we can expand a coalition" unified around what they are fighting against and working for.

"And it validates for a kid somewhere in a community wondering if he belongs or she belongs ort they belong in their own family that if you believe in yourself and your country there's a lot backing up that belief," Buttigieg said. "This is what we have been working more than a year to convince our former Americans on, that a new and better vision can bring about a new and better day."

A day after reporting problems plagued the Iowa caucuses and delayed any official results in the nation's first contest for president, the Iowa Democratic Party has begun to release results, showing Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders in a tight race for the lead.

With 62% of precincts in, Pete Buttigieg has an estimated 26.9% of state delegates, a slight lead over Senator Bernie Sanders, who has 25.1%. Senator Elizabeth Warren has 18.2%; former Vice President Joe Biden has 15.5%; Senator Amy Klobuchar has 12.5%; and Andrew Yang has 1%. 

In the popular vote count, Sanders has 28,220, ahead of Buttigieg at 27,030. Warren is in third with 22,254, followed by Biden at 14,176 and Klobuchar at 13,357.

It's unclear when the party will release more results, or how long it will take for the state party to account for all precincts. 

— Kathryn Watson and Stefan Becket 

Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price expressed regret over what went wrong Monday night, saying there was a "stumbling block" in receiving the data.

Price blamed a "coding error" as the source of the issue, but insisted the "raw data" is "secure."

Asked how people can trust the state party now, Price responded the Iowa Democratic Party has "been working day and night to make sure that these results are accurate." 

Price claimed there weren't any coding discrepancies during third-party testing. 

He promised a "thorough" review. Price apologized for the debale, saying he's a longtime caucuser himself.

"This is personal to me," Price said. 

Sanders told reporters he was "obviously disappointed" that the Iowa Democratic Party was unable to announce the results of the caucuses in a timely fashion.

"I think this is not a good night for democracy. If I'm a first-time voter, and I came out voted, and the results are not coming in 16 hours, that's a little bit disconcerting," Sanders said on Tuesday.
 
Sanders added that although the process has been "disappointing," there is no reason to cast "aspersions" on the results.

"I think we should all be disappointed in the inability in the party in not giving timely results, but we are not casting aspersions in the votes that are being counted," Sanders said. "There's no excuse for not having results last night, but that doesn't mean to say that the totals that come in will be inaccurate. I think that's an unfair thing to try to do."

Sanders also criticized Buttigieg for declaring victory in Iowa last night, even though no official results were publicly available.

"I don't know how anybody declares victory before you have an official statement from the election results, we're not even declaring victory," Sanders said.

The tech company behind the app built to report the results of the Iowa caucuses said the problem with the app was in its process to transmit data to the Iowa Democratic Party.

Shadow, a for-profit technology company, broke its silence in the wake of the Iowa caucuses with a series of tweets that described the breakdown in the reporting of results.

"We sincerely regret the delay in the reporting of the results of last night's Iowa caucuses and the uncertainty it has caused to the candidates, their campaigns, and Democratic caucus-goers," the company said. "As the Iowa Democratic Party has confirmed, the underlying data and collection process via Shadow's mobile caucus app was sound and accurate, but our process to transmit that caucus results data generated via the app to the IDP was not."

Shadow said that the issue, however, didn't affect the caucus results data, and it worked overnight to fix the issue.
 
The company also confirmed it contracted with the Iowa Democratic Party to create a caucus-reporting mobile app, but noted that local officials did not have to use it.
 
 "The goal of the app was to ensure accuracy in a complex reporting process," Shadow tweeted. "We will apply the lessons learned in the future, and have already corrected the underlying technology issue. We take these issues very seriously, and are committed to improving and evolving to support the Democratic Party's goal of modernizing its election processes."
 
While some precinct chairs said they were able to use the app without any issues, others ran into problems as they attempted to report caucus results to the state Democratic party. But it wasn't only with the app where officials ran into trouble. Those who attempted to call results in using the Iowa Democratic Party Caucus Hotline faced long wait times.

— Melissa Quinn

The Iowa Democratic Party and Nevada State Democratic Party contracted with Shadow Inc., a progressive tech startup headed by Hillary Clinton's top developer in 2016, to build a mobile app to help the parties report results and support volunteers on caucus night, two Democrats familiar with the decision told CBS News.

The firm received $58,000 from Nevada's state party last summer for "technology services," and more than $62,000 from Iowa's party for "website development."

Three Democrats in Nevada confirmed Tuesday that the app had played a central role in caucus chair training in the state ahead of Caucus Day, with volunteers given multiple opportunities to test out the app in person. 

Both state parties had been reluctant to identify the vendor or details of its vetting process, citing security concerns. As in Iowa, the software would have assisted Nevada Democrats in their upcoming contest to report unofficial winners and losers on the night of the caucus, backed up by paper records for the official certification of the results.
Several campaigns have also purchased services from Shadow, mostly for "non-federal digital communications." The company, which touts itself as building a "long-term, side-by-side 'Shadow' of tech infrastructure to the Democratic Party and the progressive community," advertises text message and data services separate from the apps developed for the state parties.

Read more here.

The Nevada State Democratic Party is promising that when it comes time for its own caucuses later this month, there will not be a repeat of the chaos in Iowa.

"NV Dems can confidently say that what happened in the Iowa caucus last night will not happen in Nevada on February 22nd," state party chair William McCurdy said in a statement. "We will not be employing the same app or vendor used in the Iowa caucus."

McCurdy said the state party has already developed "a series of backups and redundant reporting systems" and is assessing "the best path forward."

Senator Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told reporters the problems that have plagued the reporting of results from the caucuses didn't come from outside the system.

"We're confident that there was no outside interference in their system," Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, said. "And I'm sure that the party and I will figure out where their glitches were."

Burr reiterated that the caucuses were run by the Iowa Democratic Party and said the "mechanisms" in place to verify election results were turned on.

Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the intelligence panel, said Monday's chaos following the caucuses reinforces the need for paper ballot backups. He also warned that efforts to undermine U.S. elections, including through online disinformation campaigns, remain a threat.

"Those threats are out there, they remain out there, and there are forces — particularly foreign forces — that want to undermine Americans' confidence," Warner, of Virginia, said.

The Iowa Democratic Party told campaigns that "more than 50% of all the results" of Monday's caucuses will be released at 5 p.m. ET.

The IDP said on a phone briefing with reporters that it's "continuing to work through the process" and offered no timetable on when the rest of the results would be released.

— Cara Korte, Musadiq Bidar and Adam Brewster

The Iowa Democratic Party has identified the reason for inconsistencies in the data from the caucuses Monday night, pointing to a fault with the app used to report the results.
 
"While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data," IDP chairman Troy Price said in a statement. "We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system. This issue was identified and fixed. The application's reporting issue did not impact the ability of precinct chairs to report data accurately."

Price also said, "We determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound," and that there is no sign that cyber hacking is to blame.

When the precincts began reporting their results last night, the IDP began checking their "accuracy and quality" and found "inconsistencies with the reports." During an investigation, the IDP staff turned to its backup plan and "entered data manually," which "took longer than expected."

At this point, the precinct-level results are still being reported to the state party, which still plans to release the results later today. The IDP said that the required paper documentation of the caucuses meant that it was "able to verify that the data recorded in the app and used to calculate State Delegate Equivalents is valid and accurate."

Iowa Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds defended the caucuses and Iowa's privileged spot in the presidential nominating process in a statement they released Tuesday about the delay in reporting the results.

"Iowans and all Americans should know we have complete confidence that every last vote will be counted and every last voice will be heard," they wrote.

Reynolds, Grassley and Ernst, all Republicans, declined to criticize Democrats, and said that the process "is not suffering because of a short delay in knowing the final results."

They also noted that the caucuses are supported by President Trump, who tweeted about the caucuses and also blamed Democrats for the delay.

"It is not the fault of Iowa, it is the Do Nothing Democrats fault," he wrote Tuesday morning. "As long as I am President, Iowa will stay where it is. Important tradition!"

Mindful that the reporting failures would prompt more questions about whether Iowa should continue to be the first state to vet presidential nominees, Reynolds, Ernst and Grassley said of their state, "Iowa's large population of independent voters and its practice of careful deliberation contributes greatly to the national presidential primary and makes it the ideal state to kick off the nominating process."

The Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price said just after 2 a.m. ET  that results will be provided "later today," although he did not specify what time.

Price said he wanted to emphasize this is a "reporting issue, not a hack" and "this is why we have a paper trail." 

Price said they are "validating every piece of data against our paper trail" and they are updating the campaigns. 

"We have backups for this reason," he said. 

Greene County Chair Christina Henning said that earlier on Monday, before the caucuses began, that none of her precinct chairs were able to make the app work. 
 
"We knew it wasn't going to work and were prepared to call it in," she told CBS News.
 
Here's a screenshot of the app, obtained by CBS News:  

 She said that as a group they decided they would not use the app and would instead call in the results. She said she was relieved they had made this decision early in the day because it made the rest of the night easier. "We were relieved that we were going to call it in."

 Asked if the IDP knew and signed off on the decision not to use the app, she said yes, that "our district organizer knew." Henning said she received a text message from the IDP district organizer before the caucuses advising her to call in her results rather than using the app. 
 
The reporting process in Greene County went like this:

• Precinct chairs hand-delivered the results to Henning

• Henning then received a phone call from IDP and started reading the results to them

• All the reports are in as of 1:10 a.m. ET, February 4. 

— Katie Ross Dominick contributed to this report. 

The chair of Democratic Party in Polk County, the largest county by population in Iowa, said the lack of results was "bittersweet." 

 "We had a good night, our volunteers worked their hearts out, but now, who knows?" said Sena Bagniewski.

Bagniewski said there was strong turnout and the caucuses were well-organized in Polk County, which includes the state capital, Des Moines. However, he said the "app didn't work," and county party officials were willing to bring in state party officials, who turned them away. 

Now, a county party official is asking precinct chairs to take pictures of the result and email them to her. — Ed O'Keefe  

 As the Iowa Democratic Party worked to validate the results from the state's 1,678 precincts, Pete Buttigieg's campaign shared what it said are results from specific precincts across the state.

Ben Halle, the Iowa communications director for the former South Bend mayor, posted on Twitter what he claimed were caucus math worksheets from more than  a dozen precincts that Halle said he won.

The official results from the Iowa Democratic Party, however, have been delayed due to "inconsistencies" in the reporting system. 

He may not have the official results to prove it, but Pete Buttigieg was nonetheless taking a victory lap as he addressed his supporters in Iowa. 

"An improbable hope became an undeniable reality," Buttigieg told a cheering crowd. "We don't know all the results, but we know that by the time it's all said and done, Iowa you have shocked the nation." 

In fact, no results at all had posted on the Iowa Democratic Party website when Buttigieg made his speech, and they have still not posted because of problems the IDP had with "inconsistencies" in the reporting of the caucus results.

Buttigieg has been pitching  himself to voters as a candidate who can pull in moderates and "what we like to call future former Republicans," and unite the country against President Trump in November.  

He also addressed an "awful lot of skeptics" who said bridging divides between Americans who disagree is naive and risky. 

"Iowa, you have proved those skeptics wrong," he said.

President Trump's campaign manager Brad Parscale issued a statement late Monday slamming the Democratic party for the delayed Iowa caucus results.

"Democrats are stewing in a caucus mess of their own creation with the sloppiest train wreck in history," Parscale said. "It would be natural for people to doubt the fairness of the process."

And he went on to taunt some of the Democratic presidential candidates who favor government-run health care: "[T]hese are the people who want to run our entire health care system?" 

Calls to the Iowa Democratic Party and the precinct chair hotline late Monday had the same recorded message: "Thank you for calling the Iowa Democratic Party's Caucus Hotline. All of our operators are currently busy. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received. We look forward to talking to you soon."  — Steve Dorsey

Standing with his family, Bernie Sanders called Monday night the "beginning of the end for Donald Trump."

Sanders said he has a "feeling" the results will be announced at "some point," but he has a good feeling "we're going to be doing very, very well here in Iowa."

Pivoting to the president, Sanders told his supporters that whatever their political differences may be, the American people understand they cannot have a president who is a "pathological liar" and doesn't understand the Constitution, Sanders said. The Vermont senator said all of that "divisiveness" will end when "we" are in the White House. 

Sanders went on to describe the failures of the country's health care system, and the need for universal health care that doesn't bankrupt families. He echoed his stances on making public colleges tuition free and canceling student debt.

"Unlike the president of the United States, the American people, the American people understand that climate change is not a hoax, but is an existential threat to our country and the entire world," Sanders said. 

Joe Biden's presidential campaign sent a letter to the leaders of the Iowa Democratic Party amid the delay in the Iowa caucus reporting system calling for additional information on its "considerable flaws."

"The app that was intended to relay Caucus results to the Party failed; the Party's back-up telephonic reporting system likewise has failed," Dana Remus, general counsel of the Biden campaign, wrote. "Now, we understand that Caucus Chairs are attempting to — and, in many cases, failing to — report results telephonically to the Party. These acute failures are occurring statewide."

The Iowa Democratic Party held a call with the campaigns to explain the delay in reporting data, but Remus said the campaigns "deserve full explanations and relevant information regarding the methods of quality control you are employing, and an opportunity to respond before any official results are released." 

Until then, Biden is moving on to New Hampshire, Remus said. — Ed O'Keefe and Melissa Quinn

Elizabeth Warren, following Klobuchar's lead, took advantage of the airwaves and networks in need of content to deliver her speech.

"It is too close to to call, so I'm just going to tell you what I do know," Warren told her supporters.

"You won!" a man in the crowd shouted in response, to cheers.

The Massachusetts senator said they're "one step closer" to beating President Trump, She then contrasted her childhood with the president's. 

"The only thing Donald Trump values is Donald Trump," Warren said. 

Warren said the Iowa caucuses show her agenda isn't just a Democratic or progressive agenda, but an American agenda. Warren said she believes big dreams are still possible in America. 

Warren also hit on her signature issue: Rooting out corruption in the federal government.

Amy Klobuchar was the first candidate to take the stage at her Iowa headquarters in Des Moines to thank supporters and volunteers.

"We know there's delays but we know one thing: we are punching above our weight," Klobuchar said. "My heart is full tonight."

Klobuchar characterized herself as a unifying candidate who can attract support from not only Democrats, but also independents and moderate voters to defeat Mr. Trump in November.

"Donald Trump's worst nightmare is that the people in the middle, the people who have had enough of the name-calling and the mudslinging have a candidate to vote for in November," Klobuchar said. "Donald Trump's worst nightmare is that our fired-up Democrats will march to victory alongside a big coalition of Independents and moderate Republicans that see this election just as we do."

The Minnesota senator contrasted herself with the president, who, she said, is using a playbook that seeks to "divide and demoralize," while she aims to "unite and lead."

"If you want a Democratic nominee who can make our tent bigger and our coalition wider and our coattails longer, if want that, I know you and I will fight for you," Klobuchar said. "If you are sick and tired of the extremes in our politics and the noise and the nonsense, you have a home with me."

Klobuchar said she is shifting her focus to New Hampshire, which will hold its primary February 11, and intends to travel to the state immediately.

"Somehow, some way I'm getting on a plane tonight to New Hampshire," she said. "And we are bringing this ticket to New Hampshire." 

The chair of the Iowa Democratic Party said in a statement that they found "inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results," but said it is "simply a reporting issue."

The full statement reads: "We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results. In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue, the app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results."  — Adam Brewster 

The Iowa Democratic Party will be holding a call with presidential campaigns soon to explain the delay in reporting data, multiple officials on rival campaigns tell CBS News. — Ed O'Keefe and Cara Korte

Entrance polling shows some significant differences between older and younger caucus-goers on the issues. While 44% of those aged 30 and older named health care as the most important issue, it was the top concern for just 32% of those ages 17-29. Nearly as many young voters, 31%, said climate change was the most important issue.

A quarter of the under-30 caucus attendees named income inequality as the most important issue, compared to 15% of older voters. 

Iowa caucus attendees under age 45 are more likely to support replacing all private health insurance with a single government plan. Voters age 45 and over are evenly split. 

— Melissa Herrmann and Paula Cohen

The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) says that it has not yet released any data. It is doing "quality control" on the data right now. In a statement, IDP spokesperson Mandy McClure said, "the integrity of the results is paramount. We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the IDP is reporting out three data sets for the first time. What we know right now is that around 25% of precincts have reported, and early data indicates turnout is on pace for 2016."

The IDP had said it would offer more transparency this year than in prior years, disclosing first-preference results, the final alignment of the caucus-goers and the projected number of state party convention delegates candidates will get, based on the precinct caucus results.

The Democratic National Committee explained to CBS News that "quality control" means that party officials are combing through the reported data for discrepancies that could be related to human error. 
 
For instance, if 50 people caucused in 2016 at a given location, and turnout is 500 on Monday, this would prompt officials to return to the precinct and re-check the data to see if someone inadvertently entered an extra "0" to the count.

The DNC offered no estimate on when the state party would report results. The screens at the Iowa Event Center, which is the results reporting venue, have said for hours "Results coming soon." — Arden Farhi and Anthony Salvanto 

There are only 155 delegates up for grabs in the three contests following the Iowa caucuses. Still, these early states can help shape the election moving forward. LaCrai Mitchell, Alex Tin and Nicole Sganga discuss how the presidential hopefuls plan to make their mark in the next month.

Elizabeth Warren preached a message of unity before a caucus at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines kicked off.

"I'm here because I know how to fight and I know how to win," Warren said. "We start with a candidate who can bring our party together. We need all Democrats united."

The Massachusetts senator, who departed Washington for Iowa after the end of closing arguments in the Senate impeachment trial Monday afternoon, also posed for photos with supporters.

In her last-minute pitch, Warren stressed that Democrats' number one job in November is to defeat Mr. Trump. Their second job, she added, is to "elect Democrats up and down the ballot."

"2020 is our moment in history, our moment to make this the America of our best values, our moment for keeping promises, our moment to dream big, fight hard and win," she told caucus-goers." — Zak Hudak and Melissa Quinn

While the rest of the field is in Iowa Mike Bloomberg spent the day traveling throughout California, telling voters he plans to put significant resources on the ground — including 800 paid and part-time staffers.

The state offers the biggest delegate prize of the Super Tuesday states.

Still, Bloomberg told CBS News, "there's nothing magical about California and the first day of the Iowa caucus."
"It just worked out in the schedule — there's no reason to have it on any one day. California is a very big state with a lot of delegates, so you'd obviously come here more," he told CBS News.

Bloomberg said he isn't worried about Monday night's results in Iowa, and added that he is more interested in traveling the country and talking to voters, not just in the Super Tuesday states, but also in the key battleground states Democrats need to win back to defeat President Trump. He even touted his own rise with voters, saying, "You see the crowds showing up. Just take a look at how many cameras there were on the stage." 

Read more here.

— Tim Perry

Tom Steyer has outspent his Democratic opponents in Iowa, but it remains to be seen if that will yield delegates for him in the caucuses. The candidate talks Trump, climate change, and the economy with CBSN ahead of the nation's first primary contest.

CBS News projects Donald Trump will win the GOP caucuses in Iowa. The president has no competitive challenger within his party. Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld and former Congressman Joe Walsh are challenging him. 

Entrance polling provides a look at the voters attending the Iowa caucuses: 42% are male and 58% are female; 92% are white and 8% are non-white. 

Iowa caucus-goers are about evenly split between college graduates and those with no college degree. 

The largest age group is voters 65 and older, who account for 30% of this year's attendees. About 21% of caucus-goers are in the youngest age group, 17-29; another 21% are ages 30-44; and 28% are ages 45-64.

But this year's Iowa-caucus goers are younger overall than in 2016: 44% are under 45 this year, compared to 37% in the 2016 Iowa entrance poll. 
 
In terms of political philosophy, 25% say they are very liberal, 42% are somewhat liberal, 31% are moderate, and 2% describe themselves as conservative.

— Melissa Herrmann 

Sean Bagniewski, chairman of the Polk County Democrats, tweeted precincts in the county are running out of voter registration forms.

"We printed tens of thousands of extra voter registration forms and some precincts are still running out. We're making copies and deliveries to get them covered, but this Caucus is gonna be the big one," he tweeted roughly 20 minutes before the caucuses began.

Polk County is Iowa's most populous county and includes Des Moines, the state capital.

It is 8 p.m. on the East Coast — the doors have just closed, and the Iowa caucuses are underway. CBS News estimates a four-way race between Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Pete Buttigieg and Elizabeth Warren for initial preference.

The majority of Iowa caucus-goers said they would rather see the Democratic Party nominate a candidate who can beat Donald Trump (61%) as opposed to a candidate who agrees with them on major issues. 

Health care was the most important issue for Democratic caucus-goers in deciding which candidate to support, according to the results of entrance polling. When asked which issue matters most in their decision, 41% of Iowa caucus attendees said health care, 21% said climate change, 16% said income inequality, and 14% said foreign policy. 

Over half of Iowa caucus attendees this year also said they support replacing all private health insurance with a single government plan for everyone. 

About a third of Iowa caucus-goers said that today was their first caucus.
 
Two-thirds of today's Iowa caucus-goers said they decided which candidate to support in January or before that; 20% said they decided in the last few days; and 11% said they decided who to vote for today.

– Melissa Herrmann

Billie Wilson, Chris Henning, Ellen Walsh-Rosmann and LaVon Griffieon are all farmers with a passion for politics. They told CBS News' Janet Shamlian that each will caucus for a Democrat in Iowa.

"I think all of them can beat Donald Trump," said 33-year-old Walsh-Rosmann.

She's a mother of two who thinks Elizabeth Warren can revitalize farm country.

"I want to make sure that people my age and peers are coming back and they have a reason to come back to rural America," she said.

Henning, 72, has only decided she's not supporting Joe Biden or Bernie Sanders.

"My issues are their age, their health and their stamina," Henning said. "They're older than me and— and I think I'm too old to run for office."

Like many of her rural neighbors, healthcare is an issue for 66-year-old Wilson.

"In small towns, most people don't have anybody that pays their insurance. Even, you know, even the small businesses don't provide insurance," Wilson said. "So everybody is in the same boat." 

LaVon Griffieon, 63, is concerned about the economy. "In 2012, we had soybeans that were $15, and now they're at $8. That's half," Griffieon said.

While all eyes are on the Democrats, top officials from Mr. Trump's re-election campaign are also in Iowa for the Republican caucuses.

The president's two sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, joined Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale and other surrogates for a press conference in West Des Moines, during which the group blasted the Democratic presidential candidates and highlighted Mr. Trump's accomplishments in his first three years in office.

Trump Jr. was interrupted by a protester who said that since his father's election, there has been a spike in attacks on Jewish people in the U.S. The protester was escorted out of the event.

Parscale told the audience he believes Bernie Sanders will "do well," while Trump Jr. suggested House Speaker Nancy Pelosi deliberately designed the impeachment proceedings to coincide with the runup to the Iowa caucuses, ensuring Sanders would be stuck in Washington for BIden's benefit.

Meanwhile, Mr. Trump's oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, took to social media to share memories from the 2016 Iowa caucuses. Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas topped the vast Republican field in Iowa in 2016.  — Melissa Quinn and Ben Mitchell

On caucus night, the Iowa Democratic Party will release three sets of results: the popular vote from the first alignment, the popular vote after the realignment, and the number of state delegate equivalents a candidate wins. The person who wins the most state delegate equivalents will technically win the Iowa caucuses because that number will determine how many delegates the candidate wins for the national convention.

Depending on the size of the precinct, the process can take a couple of hours, but some results are expected to start coming in around 9:00 p.m. ET. The bulk of the results will likely come in a couple of hours later. CBS News will have results on the air and CBSN will be broadcasting live from Iowa.

Read more in CBS News Daily Trail Markers here.

— Caitlin Conant and Anthony Salvanto 

These are the seven candidates competing in Iowa. Michael Bennet and Tulsi Gabbard decided to focus their efforts elsewhere and stopped campaigning in Iowa months ago.  These counts date from January 1, 2019 to February 2, 2020, beginning either when the candidate started an exploratory committee or filed with the FEC, whichever came first.

Linked to the candidates' names are their heat maps, which tell the story of where they've spent their time in Iowa over the past year.

Joe Biden
Trips: 22
Total Days Spent: 61
Total Campaign Events: 136
Pete Buttigieg
Trips: 25
Total Days Spent: 64
Total Campaign Events: 167
Amy Klobuchar
Trips: 32
Total Days Spent: 69
Total Campaign Events: 206
Bernie Sanders
Trips: 20
Total Days Spent: 58
Total Campaign Events: 145
Tom Steyer
Trips: 13
Total Days Spent: 36
Total Campaign Events: 78
Elizabeth Warren
Trips: 27
Total Days Spent: 59
Total Campaign Events: 119
Andrew Yang**
Trips: 15
Total Days Spent: 53
Total Campaign Events: 171 (**Yang campaigned in Iowa starting in August of 2018. These numbers reflect his trips since January of 2019.)
— Adam Brewster and Musadiq Bidar

The Iowa caucuses are always closely watched and exhaustively analyzed — but how often do they accurately predict which candidate will be the eventual nominee?

A look at recent political history shows Iowa voters often pick a winner — but not always.

In the past 11 presidential races, the Iowa Democratic caucus correctly predicted the Democratic nominee seven times. Iowa was only wrong about the Democratic nominee twice. (Two times, an incumbent was running, so there was no Iowa race.)

So, in seven out of the nine contested Iowa Democratic caucuses, the person who won Iowa became the party's nominee.

The Republican caucuses in the state have not predicted the party's nominee as frequently. In the past 11 races, the nominee was predicted by the Iowa caucuses only four times. Three times, an incumbent was running, so there was no Iowa race. So, in four out of the eight contested Iowa Republican caucuses, the state's winner became the party's nominee.

Read more here.

• Caucuses begin at 8 p.m. ET. The presidential preference part of the night, when caucus-goers elect delegates for their chosen candidate will likely take an hour or two. 
• This is the first year "satellite caucuses" will be open. Seventy-one sites will be set up to allow people who can't leave their jobs or who are in assisted living facilities to participate. Iowans living outside the state may also caucus in the 25 sites in states outside of Iowa, plus three international sites, in France, Scotland and the Republic of Georgia.
• There are 1,678 precincts across Iowa.
• In 2016, 171,109 people showed up for the Democratic caucuses between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Clinton won by a margin of less than 0.5%. 
• There are 41 delegates at stake in Iowa, out of the 3,979 pledged national delegates in the Democratic primary process. 
• The winning candidate will need 1,991 pledged delegates to secure the nomination.

— Adam Brewster and Musadiq Bidar

The senators running for president are back in Washington today for the closing arguments in President Trump's impeachment trial. Bernie Sanders told reporters in the Capitol he'll be on his way to Iowa after the arguments are over.

Amy Klobuchar, also in the Capitol, said she's "looking forward to hearing the arguments," but once they've concluded, "I'm getting back there" to Iowa. Around midnight, she plans to go to New Hampshire. After an arrival in the wee hours of the morning, she plans to hit the trail with several events Tuesday.

Warren did not say where she'd be on Caucus night, saying that it "depends on Mitch McConnell — he's the one who controls the schedule."

Michael Bennet plans to go to New Hampshire this evening. 

— Katie Ross Dominick, Rob Legare, Adam Brewster, Grace Segers and Amber Ali

Although the president faces no significant threats in his reelection race, Mr. Trump wants Republican voters to caucus, too, touting recent trade deals his administration has reached.

"Republicans in Iowa, go out and Caucus today. Your great Trade Deals with China, Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Korea and more, are DONE," he wrote. "Great times are coming, after waiting for decades, for our Farmers, Ranchers, Manufacturers and ALL. Nobody else could have pulled this off!"

The Republican Party is holding caucuses, though they haven't attracted as much attention as the Democrats have. Still, the Trump campaign will have a substantial presence here, with 80 surrogates at caucus sites around Iowa. In 2016, Mr. Trump placed second to Ted Cruz here. 

This time around, only long-shot candidates Congressman Joe Walsh, of Illinois, and former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld are challenging Mr. Trump for the GOP nomination.

The president visited Des Moines on Thursday night for his first campaign rally in Iowa this year. Hundreds of people in the overflow crowd watched Mr. Trump speak on a big screen outside the venue. 
— Adam Brewster and Musadiq Bidar contributed.

Unlike a primary, a caucus is not a "one person, one vote" system. Instead, Iowans will be electing delegates through a complex process that dates back to the 19th century. There are no ballots, and caucus-goers aren't technically voting for candidates but rather for delegates who support a given candidate.    

If a candidate fails to attract 15% of support from caucus goers at a caucus location, that candidate will not clear the "viability threshold," meaning that candidates' supporters will have to either pick another candidate or their votes will not count. This process is called realignment.

This realignment process is critical. If your candidate wasn't viable and you're looking for a new group, viable campaigns will be competing to try to win you over. If you're part of a well-organized campaign on the cusp of viability, your team will be desperately trying to try to pick off supporters of other non-viable campaigns. The best organized campaigns, with well-trained and experienced people on their side, are in strong positions to increase their size on caucus night.    — Musadiq Bidar and Adam Brewster

The final CBS News Iowa Battleground Tracker offers a statistical simulation of the caucuses and some scenarios that might unfold on Monday. It looks like a close contest heading in, and the top candidates are all poised to win national delegates.

To show what could happen — and more importantly, why — we continued interviewing likely caucus-goers this week for their first- and second-choice preferences in our polling, then combined it with data on Iowa voters generally, and how the caucus system works across the state's counties and districts.

Monday dawns with Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden even in first-choice support at 25% each in our baseline model, Pete Buttigieg very close behind at 21%, and Elizabeth Warren at 16%, also in position to accrue some national delegates. Amy Klobuchar is at 5% in our baseline estimate, and all other candidates are under 5%.

Read full results here.