Muddled Iowa caucus results give critics more ammunition

Unresolved. No official winner. Then, finally, a winner declared. All within less than a day.

That’s the gist of the Republican Party of Iowa’s fascinating and frustrating interpretation of its certified Iowa caucus results announced Thursday.

The saga disappoints.

And with all the national attention paid to the Iowa caucuses as first in the presidential nomination journey, not declaring an official winner and then reversing field to announce that Rick Santorum had defeated Mitt Romney after all tarnishes the event’s image, its credibility.

It provides more ammunition for critics who argue the Iowa caucuses don’t deserve the leadoff spot held for four decades.

After the Jan. 3 caucuses, preliminary results showed Romney beat Santorum by eight votes. But the certified results just released gave Santorum a 34-vote edge. Not so surprising, given such an unusually close outcome.

However, the Republican Party of Iowa’s executive director, Chad Olsen, initially declared a “split decision” with no official winner. Matt Strawn, the party chair, didn’t dispute that call – at first.

Why?

Well, results from eight precincts remain officially missing. They were due by 5 p.m. Wednesday but because the proper documents weren’t ever filed for those eight precincts, those votes won’t ever be certified, party officials said. And even though the official totals put Santorum on top, he was not named the official winner.

But that was the early action. By Thursday afternoon, Strawn was on WHO Radio, declaring that Santorum indeed is the official winner and offering an apology. His statement came a few hours after Craig Robinson, another prominent state Republican, called for Strawn to resign.

Will this mishandled message make much difference as the nomination process moves forward? Probably not.

But it does leave a bad impression.

Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad stressed in a Radio Iowa interview that the precinct caucuses are run by volunteers but, to his credit, added that “... I think there’s some lessons to be learned. We just, we take this very seriously, and we need to perfect the process.”

Yes, Strawn and other Republican state officials should scrutinize what happened and determine how the caucus process, still a straw vote on paper, could be improved. Cannot more of today’s advanced computer technology be applied?