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DEMOCRATIC WHITE HOUSE candidate Pete Buttigieg holds a wafer-thin lead over rival Bernie Sanders as more delayed results arrived, after the US election season kicked off with caucuses in Iowa.
With 97% of precincts now reporting after Monday’s selection process in the midwestern state, the moderate 38-year-old Buttigieg, a former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, was leading with 26.2%.
Senator Sanders, who is 78 years old and is making his second charge for the nomination in four years, is snapping at his heels on 26.1%.
Fellow progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren stands at 18.2%, while former vice president Joe Biden, the national frontrunner, was fourth with 15.8%.
Technical glitches
Iowa’s quirky, old-fashioned caucus process was marred by technical glitches that forced an embarrassing delay in reporting of results in the closely watched contest.
The 77-year-old Biden, like Buttigieg already campaigning in the next state to vote, New Hampshire, acknowledged that his poor showing in Iowa was a “gut punch”, but insisted he would stick it out.
The key figures released by the Iowa Democratic Party are percentages of the all-important delegates that the state sends to the national convention to vote for in the nomination process.
Buttigieg, a virtual unknown nationally one year ago, startled political observers by seizing the top spot over Sanders who had been leading in Iowa polls ahead of the caucuses.
Iowa’s pick has a recent historical track record of going on to become the national Democratic nominee.
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