62 percent of Iowa caucus results in after delay cause by app malfunction
Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren, and Biden claim the top spots as Iowa caucus results trickle in.
Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin raised eyebrows with a piece that appeared to dismiss the importance of the Iowa caucuses, after writing a column last year calling the primary "so important."
In May 2019, Rubin penned a column titled "Why Iowa is so important this time," where she went into detail about the rules of the first contest in the 2020 race how it can reshape the Democratic field.
Rubin predicted at the time that the field would likely "shrink quickly" and added that "Iowa and New Hampshire [are] absolutely critical for a whole lot of contenders."
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However, in a column published Tuesday, she asked: "What good are the Iowa caucuses anyway?"
"There are bound to be a whole bunch of candidates during the Iowa caucuses on Monday night who do not meet the 15 percent threshold... What do those candidates do, and when do they do it? Theoretically, the idea has been that some of those candidates get out. In this case, however, there is reason to doubt that will happen," Rubin said.
The MSNBC contributor explained ahead of the results of the Iowa caucuses that Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., is a "serious candidate" no matter how she placed in the contest and that candidates Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer would likely not be inclined to drop out since they "like running for president."
She also argued that the top four contenders might as well stay in the race until Super Tuesday.
"There is very little incentive for any candidate to get out at this point given the debate later in the week and New Hampshire four days after that... So why is Iowa in first place if it does not winnow the field?" Rubin asked. "That is a good question."
"The party effectively limited its importance by sticking the debate on Friday, with the next race on the following Tuesday," she continued. "Perhaps that’s a hint about its evaporating patience with Iowa’s placement and non-democratic caucus process. If a non-diverse state that Democrats are unlikely to win anytime soon does not even play the elimination role to narrow the field, perhaps it finally is time to throw in the towel both on the caucus and the first-place position."
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Rubin was mocked on social media, as critics shared both of her contradictory columns side-by-side.
"Gonna leave it right here #MicDrop," Sanders campaign speechwriter David Sirota said.
"Incredible," Jacobin Magazine writer Luke Savage tweeted.
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Rubin, who on Twitter describes herself as a "conservative opinion writer," was recently a finalist in the viral "Liberal Hack Tournament," coming in second place against CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter.