Political Insiders React to Iowa Caucus Results
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Veteran political insiders Ed Rendell and Michael Steele weighed in on the results of the Iowa caucus, polling leading up to the voting, and what they see moving forward.
On the Democratic side, Rendell, while speaking with Rich Zeoli on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, said both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders can claim they have momentum moving ahead in the campaign.
"If you take the long view and say four or five months ago, Hillary Clinton was 35 points ahead in the polls in Iowa, this is a great victory for Bernie Sanders, to come that close. But if you take the short view, CNN polled, last week, Bernie Sanders winning Iowa by nine points. Quinnipiac had Bernie Sanders winning Iowa by four points. there were a lot of polls that had Bernie Sanders winning Iowa. The momentum was all in his favor and, the fact is, he didn't win. Hillary Clinton won."
He does not expect the battle between the two remaining Democratic candidates to end anytime soon.
"The Democrats are going to have a fairly long, protracted battle for the nomination. Some people thought it would be quick. I don't think so. I think Bernie will win New Hampshire. I think Hillary will win Nevada and South Carolina and then a lot will depend on March 1 when there are 13 different states voting. We've got to wait to see. But this is not an early knockout for either of the two Democrats."
Rendell gave Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the winner on the Republican side, credit for executing a successful ground game.
"Organization is the key in a caucus state like Iowa. The Trump folks never had the type of organization that the Cruz campaign had. I always believed that Cruz would perform four or five points better than he was polling and he did. I thought Donald would do better just because there was so much enthusiasm for him, but I thought Cruz would win. I thought Donald would come in second. The big surprise was Marco Rubio coming so close, coming in third, but coming in so close to Trump. That was the big surprise."
Former Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Steele, agreed with Rendell on the importance of organization, stating that what put Cruz over the top is the way his campaign, through data analytics and micro-targeting, made connections with voters on an individual level.
"What these guys have been able to do is they've been able to find tune that to an art form where they know what the donors and supporters and possible supporters look like, the ideal Cruz supporter. They've built out their network in targeted areas to create that synergy, that momentum of people that will come out and support him."
Steele pointed out that Donald Trump's second place finish only looks diminished today because Trump spent the previous weeks claiming a huge victory was on the horizon.
"Trump performed well, so let's put that in perspective. He did well. I always thought that he should've downplayed expectations from the beginning. The goal was not to win Iowa, but to have to have a strong second, and he did. The problem was that I think they got over their skis a little bit and started projecting a win in a state that was very difficult for them to win in the first place. But, he did well."
