Buttegeig's apparent Iowa win built in large part on rural vote

Los Angeles Times map shows margin of victory by county. Story has other good graphics.

Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttegeig carried most rural areas in his apparent victory in Iowa's Democratic presidential caucuses. They put him one-tenth of a percentage point ahead of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with 97 percent of all the delayed results in. (National Democratic Chair Tom Perez called today for a recanvass of the votes.)

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren was eight points behind Buttegeig and Sanders, at 18.2%; former vice president Joe Biden had 15.8% and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar 12.2%. The results, especially in rural areas, were damaging to Biden. "Joe Biden spent a lot of his time in rural areas," CNN political correspondent Arlette Saenz noted Monday night.

Sanders won the popular vote, but Buttegeig got more state-delegate equivalents ("the traditional metric by which an Iowa winner has been determined," The Washington Post notes) because the party's delegate-allocation formula gives more weight to rural precincts. NBC political correspondent Steve Kornacki said on Twitter of Buttigieg’s lead. “Basically, rural areas tend to get more bang for their buck at the expense of college-heavy areas.”

The Post's Philip Bump checks the second choices of voters whose candidates didn't reach the 15 percent qualifying threshold in their caucuses and finds, "Over and over, Buttigieg was the second choice." Those results suggest "Buttigieg may have an edge moving forward if he remains the No. 2 choice for voters, as their first choices might give up on seeking the nomination."

Read more here: https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article239989553.html#storylink=cpy