Waiting on Iowa [UPDATED THROUGHOUT THE EVENING]

The Super Bowl has been played, and Monday is a slow day for soccer and college basketball. So, by default, I’m following the Iowa caucuses.

There’s nothing to report from Iowa yet, except for this: Entrance polling suggests that Bernie Sanders is crushing it with young voters and that Joe Biden is the clear favorite among older ones. Biden has generated little enthusiasm among the young, while the elderly seem skeptical of Sanders.

There’s a good chance that the Democrats will nominate either Sanders or Biden. If the elderly are skeptical or fearful of Sanders (as they should be) and the young are uninspired by Biden (as should also be the case), that’s a problem for Democrats as they look ahead to November.

UPDATE: Still nothing solid to report. However, the anecdotal evidence I’m seeing suggests that Biden is having a tough night.

UPDATE: There are, I understand, more than 1,700 precincts in Iowa. As we approach 10:00 in the East, there is “final alignment” data from only 24 of them.

For what it’s worth, Pete Buttigieg has almost 27 percent of the vote. Sanders is second at just under 24 percent. Biden is third at around 20 percent. Then come Elizabeth Warren (16 percent) and Amy Klobuchar (just under 14 percent).

UPDATE: Still very little to report as we hit 10:30 in the East. The final alignment data now has Buttigieg and Sanders virtually tied at around 27 percent. Warren has moved into third with 20 percent.

Biden is down to around 14 percent, a result that, if it were to hold, would be a huge setback for the former vice president.

But this is with less than 2 percent of precincts reporting.

REPUBLICAN UPDATE: According to FiveThirtyEight, President Trump has won the Republican caucuses with 97 percent of the vote.

UPDATE: Technical and “quality control” issues are standing in the way of finding out what happened at the caucuses. Iowa should either switch to a primary or lose its “first state to vote status.”

Apparently, though, Iowa can remain first only if it sticks to caucuses. So New Hampshire should go first.

UPDATE: As we approach 11:30 in the East, the delay continues. Reportedly, state party officials are briefing the campaigns about the matter. Maybe the Russians are to blame.

There are reports that attendance at this year’s caucuses is at about the same level as in 2016. If so, then anti-Trump sentiment and a large field of candidates failed to push Iowa Democrats to new levels of enthusiasm.

UPDATE: Nothing new to report about Iowa. However, I just learned that MLB Network’s “Shredder” declared Trevor Story the best shortstop in baseball. The result is disputed, though, because Brian Kenny and Harold Reynolds say the best shortstop is Francisco Lindor.

SIGNING OFF: It’s a few minutes before midnight in the East. I doubt that we’ll get meaningful results any time soon, so I’m signing off.

Many will be disappointed by this farce of an election. However, I dislike the Iowa caucuses, and kind of liked how the evening turned out.

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