No, it’s Iowa.
Who suffered from Iowa’s slow-count?
Certainly, the biggest victims are the TV pundits, talking heads, and networks. They were keyed up with maps and graphs and analyses and insights – but they had no data. All night long, they fumbled and bumbled with blank screens, when they were expecting to show off how smart they are.
So they talked about apps, and about the collapse of the party, and the age of the caucus-goers.
Meanwhile, the candidates and campaigns moved on to New Hampshire. Volunteers returned to their home states. Iowans went back to work and school and play. And non-Iowans did on Tuesday the same things they did on Monday.
Was Iowa’s result going to change your vote? I’m betting the answer is “No”. You really don’t care if the result is announced an hour after the caucus is done or a week after. Either way, the result is the same … and for nearly everyone, its late-arrival makes no difference at all.
But for the 24-hour political newscasters, the Iowa caucus results were a panic moment. And now, 36 hours later, they are still mumbling and grumbling, talking about apps and coding problems and the horror of having to wait.
And that’s the lesson we should be learning. Sometimes we have to wait. And waiting doesn’t change the outcome or the value. It’s just waiting.
Take a breath. Move on to the next thing.