Pete Buttigieg from Iowa to New Hampshire

The Iowa caucuses remain unsettled, but with almost 75 percent of the vote tallied as of Wednesday afternoon, Buttigieg has a small lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Perhaps more importantly, Buttigieg far exceeded expectations and is likely to finish well ahead of former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who represent his biggest obstacles to becoming the party’s centrist standard-bearer.

Sanders will still enter the Granite State as the prohibitive favorite. But New Hampshire Democrats say a top-two or top-three finish for Buttigieg, in which he comes out ahead of his moderate rivals, could be enough to burnish his case as the strongest centrist and best-positioned alternative to Sanders.

The stakes are high for Buttigieg, as the primary calendar will then turn from predominantly white states to more racially diverse states, where he has struggled to connect with voters of color.

[...]

One big question around Buttigieg’s campaign is whether he’ll get a bump from Iowa that is consistent with past caucus winners.

The delay in reporting results and the media frenzy around the botched caucuses may have come at a cost to Buttigieg, according to Joe Trippi, a veteran Democratic campaign hand who has worked on several presidential and congressional races in New Hampshire.

[...]

“Voters are very focused on figuring out which candidate they think can beat Trump, and he’s got to demonstrate that he has the experience and maturity to be president,” said Jim Demers, a Democratic strategist in New Hampshire who is backing Biden.

  The Hill

Why? Trump didn't have to, and he had neither of those characteristics.

But, speaking of the Iowa fiasco...

A hotline that was used by Iowa precinct chairs to report Democratic caucus results was reportedly flooded with calls on Monday from President Trump supporters after the number was posted online, elongating the delays in the vote tallying process, sources told Bloomberg.

[...]

In a text message to Bloomberg, Tim Murtaugh — Trump's campaign spokesperson — said: “Don’t know anything about that but maybe Democrats should consider using an app of some kind next time."

  The Hill

Nasty bunch.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE: