Former Vice President Joe Biden admitted during his first debate answer Friday night that his campaign will likely take another hit in New Hampshire’s Tuesday primary after he placed fourth in the Iowa caucuses this week.
“I took a hit in Iowa, and I’ll probably take a hit here,” Biden said on the debate stage in Manchester, New Hampshire.
“It’s a long race. I took a hit in Iowa,” former Vice President Joe Biden tells @GStephanopoulos when asked about Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg coming out on top in Iowa. https://t.co/xf1187lahq #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/0FTpHeFUDL
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 8, 2020
Biden placed a distant fourth in the caucuses Monday with 100 percent of precincts finally reporting Friday after a weeklong delay in results.
According to RealClearPolitics’ latest aggregate of polls, Biden is on course for another disappointing fourth-place finish, garnering only 13 percent support. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is polling in first place with more than 26 percent, followed by former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg with nearly 22 percent, and Elizabeth Warren with more than 13 percent.
While Biden suffered a blow in Iowa, the delay in results from the Iowa Democratic Party served as a saving grace for the former vice president as the victors were denied having their names and faces plastered across every major newspaper in the country Tuesday morning, forfeiting critical opportunities for publicity and fundraising.
The caucuses quickly dissolved into chaos Monday night after the vote-reporting app crashed as results began to be tallied. The Iowa Democratic Party didn’t release the results until late Thursday night, saving Biden from a week-long embarrassment as the national front-runner who failed to take home a top-three finish.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez has since called for a recanvassing of the results, which would entail reexamining the paper trail to ensure accuracy. Candidates have until noon Monday to contest the final numbers, as discrepancies in the vote tallies have raised questions about their validity.
