Clinton, Sanders in dead heat in Calhoun County

Leading Democrat presidential candidates former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders ended Monday night’s Calhoun County caucus with a dead heat.
The two came nearly that close statewide, with just a handful of delegates separating the two. The way the Democrats distribute their delegates means an exact vote tally isn’t available, but Clinton received 49.8 percent of the vote, while Sanders received 49.6 percent.
Calhoun County Democratic Party Chairwoman Faith Blaskovich said she didn’t expect such a close result.
“And yet, I know this county very well,” she said Tuesday morning. “I knew Lake City would be a Hillary precinct. I knew Rockwell City would be a Bernie precinct. I’m encouraged it was like that.”
About 300 Democrats turned out for the caucus around the county.
The complicated process Democrats use in Iowa when they caucus – people sit together with fellow supporters of one candidate, then try to sway voters whose chosen candidate doesn’t get at least 15 percent of the votes to join their camp – would have made meeting at just one site difficult, Blaskovich said. Democrats picked five locations, one each in Lake City, Rockwell City, Lohrville, Pomeroy and Manson, and had a good turnout at each site. 
Read more in the Feb. 10 edition.