(CNN)Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa Democratic caucuses,
according to final results from the Iowa Democratic Party.
She just edges Bernie Sanders in the
total of state delegate equivalents awarded Monday night.
"I am so thrilled,"
Clinton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday. "My luck was not that good
last time around, and it was wonderful to win the caucus, to have that
experience."
But the narrow win, which follows a
long night in which the two candidates remained deadlocked, means Clinton faces
the prospect of an extended fight for the Democratic presidential nomination.
She may have to wait until late February for a realistic chance to put a solid
win in her column. Sanders holds a strong lead in New Hampshire, the next state
to vote on February 9.
Nevada holds its Democratic caucuses
on February 20 and the South Carolina Democratic primary is a week later and
Clinton could fare better in those more diverse electorates.
Campaigns are fueled by victories
and Clinton's muddled Iowa showing will leave her supporters, donors and
campaign staffers without bragging rights, possibly dampening enthusiasm and
further ceding ground to Sanders.
Clinton spoke at a rally in Nashua,
New Hampshire, earlier Tuesday before the Iowa Democratic Party's announcement.
She sounded confident even though she had not yet been declared the winner.
"I am so thrilled to be coming
to New Hampshire after winning Iowa! I have won and I have lost there, it is a
lot better to win," she told the crowd.
However, the Sanders campaign is
moving to capitalize on his little-guy-fighting-the-Democratic-machine
narrative.
"We went toe-to-toe with the
establishment," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told CNN's Wolf Blitzer
on Tuesday. "We're extremely gratified
Sander is turning his attention to
New Hampshire's primary on February 9 and beyond.
"We're going to fight really
hard in New Hampshire and then we're going to Nevada, to South Carolina, we're
doing well around the country," the Vermont senator said shortly
after his campaign plane landed in the Granite State.
The Iowa results showcased a
Democratic Party with stark demographic fissures along class, race, age and
ideological lines. While it appeared that Clinton would wrap up the nomination
quickly, the caucus results suggest the primary battle will be a long and hard
fought referendum on what the Democratic Party should be.
And the eventual winner will be
tasked with bridging a party that could be much more split -- and damaged
--than it was in 2008 after Clinton's battle with Obama.
"It's rare that we have the
opportunity we do now," she said in a speech that didn't explicitly claim
victory but sought to position her as the authentic progressive in the race.
Sanders, who trailed Clinton in Iowa
by 30 points three months ago, told a raucous crowd chanting "Bernie,
Bernie" that his campaign made stunning progress.
"Nine months ago, we came to
this beautiful state, we had no political organization, we had no money, we had
no name recognition and we were taking on the most powerful political
organization in the United States of America," he said.
Though Sanders fared well in Iowa
and is nicely posited in New Hampshire, his hurdle is proving that he can
appeal to more ethnically diverse electorates in later contests in places such
as South Carolina.
source(cnn.com)
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