Candidates prep for debate as Iowa caucus confusion continues

DES MOINES, Iowa (NBC) – Seven Democratic presidential candidates are set to face off in a high-stakes debate Friday as we await news from Iowa on who really won. It comes ahead of New

Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary and days after the Iowa caucuses ended in chaos and confusion that still hasn’t been sorted out.

The chaos in Iowa continues with still no definitive winner from Monday night’s caucuses. With only four days to go before the New Hampshire primary, Pete Buttigieg maintains a razor-thin lead over Bernie Sanders.

Sanders, hours earlier, claimed victory after results show he won the popular vote in the state, a new statistic he lobbied the DNC to make public at this year’s Iowa caucuses.

Sanders said, “Well, where I come from, when you get 6,000 more votes than your opponents on the first ballot, when you get 2,500 more votes than your next closest competitor on the second ballot, you win. So yeah, I think it’s fair to say we won.”

DNC Chairman Tom Perez tweeted out his frustration, writing, “enough is enough,” and “what happened in Iowa was unacceptable.” He initially called for a statewide re-canvass but amended his demand to instead focus solely on precincts with reported problems.

Perez said, “I want to make sure that every Iowa voter knows that their vote was counted and I want to make sure every voter across this country knows their vote was counted and that we take our commitment to accuracy very seriously.”

A CNN analysis revealed some errors in the official count reported by the Iowa Democratic Party. Multiple counties reported a different number of state delegates equivalents then they were supposed to have and some counties even awarding more state delegate equivalents then they were allotted.

The chair of the Iowa Democratic Party has said the party is willing to recount if it is formally requested by a candidate by 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

Sanders is insisting he is ready to move on and forge ahead to New Hampshire where he holds a four-point lead over Buttigieg in a new Monmouth poll. He said, “We’ve got enough of Iowa. I think we should move on the New Hampshire. It is really sad that the Democratic Party of Iowa, if I may say so, screwed up the counting process quite so badly.”

Joe Biden had a poor showing in Iowa. The latest poll in New Hampshire puts Biden in third place ahead of Elizabeth Warren. The Washington Post reports that he left New Hampshire and spent Thursday in Delaware prepping for the next debate and re-evaluating his campaign strategy.