So it looks like Mitt Romney won the Iowa Caucus.
Well, perhaps not:
Caucus night was chaotic in many places, with hundreds of voters, candidates showing up and the throngs of media who followed. The world's eyes were on Iowa. But in the quiet town of Moulton, Appanoose County, a caucus of 53 people may just blow up the results.
Edward True, 28, of Moulton, said he helped count the votes and jotted the results down on a piece of paper to post to his Facebook page. He said when he checked to make sure the Republican Party of Iowa got the count right, he said he was shocked to find they hadn't.
"When Mitt Romney won Iowa by eight votes and I've got a 20-vote discrepancy here, that right there says Rick Santorum won Iowa," True said. "Not Mitt Romney."
True said at his 53-person caucus at the Garrett Memorial Library, Romney received two votes. According to the Iowa Republican Party's website, True's precinct cast 22 votes for Romney.
"This is huge," True said. "It essentially changes who won."
Indeed it does. If this happened, then that means that Rick Santorum won. The article mentions that Edward True is a Ron Paul supporter, so this cements more honesty in his claims as he is not trying to say that Ron Paul won. He is merely stating that there was a discrepancy in the counting that means Rick Santorum probably won. He also is not saying that the discrepancy was intentional, that someone entered 22 by accident.
I find it amusing that nobody bothered to demand a recount of the caucus votes based on the close results. But then again, the caucus itself in Iowa is nothing more than a elaborate straw poll. The Iowa delegates are chosen then, but they do not cast their votes until later. In other words, all the Iowa caucus has served to do is to provide some momentum to the winner for the New Hampshire primary.
But I’m sure if Ron Paul had won, you would be hearing all about how the Iowa Caucus is just a straw poll.
On a side note, I was slightly amused by this:
A spokeswoman with the Iowa Republican Party said True is not a precinct captain and he's not a county chairperson so he has no business talking about election results. She also said the party would not be giving interviews about possible discrepancies until the caucus vote is certified.
In other words, because Edward True is not a member of the system, he is a crazy man and should not be taken seriously. It is amazing how in this world of social media that people are still living by the archaic ways of doing things like voting. Perhaps we update to a system that serves the needs of the people better than the insanity that goes on now.
Ultimately, this whole dog and pony show is a sham. What needs to happen is that every single state has their caucus or primary on the same day in July. Like Christmas in a retail store, the Presidential election has bumped too far into the previous year and it is largely unnecessary.