US election 2020: Buttigieg, Sanders nearly tied as Iowa caucus results narrow

The race remained too early to call with 97 per cent of precincts reporting.

New results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses show Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders nearly tied with almost all the votes counted.
But the race remained too early to call early Thursday with 97 per cent of precincts reporting.
 Iowa officials attributed their delay in results for Monday's caucuses to technical problems. The chaos surrounding the reporting breakdown has undermined the impact of Iowa's election, which typically rewards winners with a surge of momentum heading into subsequent primary contests.
The latest on the 2020 election: 
Biden dismayed Limbaugh awarded Medal of Freedom
The awarding of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rush Limbaugh has left Joe Biden almost speechless.

The Democratic presidential candidate was asked Wednesday during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire about the honor President Donald Trump bestowed on the conservative radio personality during Tuesday's State of the Union. The former vice president made the sign of the cross and looked at the ground for several seconds before responding.
Biden finally said, "Rush Limbaugh spent his entire time on the air dividing people, belittling people," and started to blame Limbaugh for stirring up racial division before trailing off.
Referencing Limbaugh's recent announcement that he has advanced lung cancer, Biden said he does feel bad that Limbaugh has a terminal illness. But he added that Trump's bestowing the honor on Limbaugh before a joint session of Congress was, "quite frankly, trying to maintain your right-wing political credentials, rather than anything else."
Too early to declare winner of Iowa caucuses

It remains too early to declare a winner in the Iowa caucuses.

With 86 per cent of precincts reporting early Wednesday evening, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has a lead over Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders of 1.3 percentage points in state delegate equivalents.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar are trailing.
There remain too many state delegate equivalents left to be counted to declare a winner from Monday's caucuses. The results were delayed because of a technical problem.
The Iowa Democratic Party is reporting three sets of results. They are "first alignment" of caucusgoers, the "final alignment" and the number of "state delegate equivalents" won by each candidate.

The Associated Press will declare the winner of the Iowa caucuses based on the number of state delegate equivalents each candidate receives.

That's because Democrats choose their overall nominee based on delegates. While the other results provide insights into the process, state delegate equivalents have the most direct bearing on the metric Democrats use to pick their nominee.
Iowa Democrats have now released 75% of results
The Iowa Democratic Party has released another round of results from Monday's caucuses after a delay sparked by technical problems.

The party has released 75% of the vote as of Wednesday afternoon. The results show Pete Buttigieg held a slight lead over Bernie Sanders in the number of state delegate equivalents, but it is too early to call a winner.

The partial results show Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar trailing behind. All of the top five candidates have moved on to New Hampshire, the next state on the primary calendar.
Joe Biden acknowledges 'gut punch' in Iowa
Joe Biden says he won't sugarcoat the impact of Iowa on his 2020 presidential bid.

Campaigning in New Hampshire Wednesday, Biden says, "we took a gut punch in Iowa, the whole process took a gut punch."

He told an audience in Somersworth, New Hampshire, that "this isn't the first time in my life I've been knocked down."
Iowa's Democratic Party has released only partial results of Monday's caucuses, but Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Biden and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar were trailing in the tally.
Biden is vowing to keep fighting for the Democratic nomination in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina "and beyond."
There are an "awful lot of folks out there" writing off his campaign, Biden said.
But, Biden added, "I'm not going anywhere. And I'm counting on New Hampshire. We 're going to come back."