Iowa Democratic Party Mocked Over Video of Sign Breaking While Chairman Explains Disastrous Caucus: 'How Symbolic'
Troy Price, chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, was mocked on social media after a sign fell from a podium while he was addressing issues related to the chaotic Iowa caucus during a Monday press conference.
Price was responding to a question regarding mathematical rounding errors on worksheets used to report caucus results when an Iowa Democratic Party sign fell off the podium. The party chairman barely paused, continuing to explain that the errors would not be corrected because the worksheets represent the "official record" of the caucus results. The incident quickly inspired ridicule on social media, especially from supporters of Senator Bernie Sanders.
IDP Chair Troy Price answers question about why the party can’t change mathematical problems on the caucus night worksheets in the results: pic.twitter.com/o8z0dV9bcO
— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) February 10, 2020
"How symbolic having the Iowa sign fall as the IDP chair refuses to make the known corrections," tweeted Twitter user @BernThemAll.
How symbolic having the Iowa sign fall as the IDP chair refuses to make the known corrections.
— Martinez (@BernThemAll) February 10, 2020
The press conference was called after the campaigns of Sanders and Pete Buttigieg both requested partial recanvassing of the caucus results.
The Iowa caucus has been widely denounced as a debacle. Aside from the apparent errors, results of the contest were delayed for days, due in part to the failure of an app used to report the results. Some have called for Price to resign.
"He should have looked at that sign on the floor, said 'I resign' and walked away without saying another word in politics for the rest of his life," user @gaming_nihilist tweeted.
He should have looked at that sign on the floor, said "I resign" and walked away without saying another word in politics for the rest of his life.
— The Nihilist (@gaming_nihilist) February 10, 2020
"When you find yourself having to explain that 2 + 2 is 5 because that's policy, you need to be removed from the process. By force if necessary," tweeted @baconradar.
When you find yourself having to explain that 2 + 2 is 5 because that's policy, you need to be removed from the process.
— Jack Liu (@baconradar) February 10, 2020
By force if necessary.
A reporter at the press conference asked Price if he thought he had been "thrown under the bus" by DNC chairman Tom Perez, who said that the Iowa chairman's best "wasn't enough" in an interview with The New York Times on Sunday.
"Obviously I was very disappointed by the chairman's comments," Price responded. "This has been a full partnership with the DNC throughout this entire time... what I will say is, we've got a job to do, and that is to finish up this process. There's going to be a time to assign blame. But I will tell you the DNC has been a partner in this process up to, including and after caucus night."
Both Sanders and Buttigieg have declared themselves the winner of the caucus. Buttigieg has a razor-thin lead over Sanders in state delegate equivalents, while Sanders has an advantage in the popular vote.
Once the recanvass is completed, officials say a recount will also be required to change any results. No timeline has been given for the potential adjustments.
The second contest in the race for the Democratic nomination is quickly approaching, with the New Hampshire primary set for Tuesday.
