Cruz, Clinton overcome close Iowa caucuses

Voters cast their ballots in the Iowa Caucuses on Monday, awarding the first win of the party primaries for the 2016 U.S. Presidential election to Republican candidate Senator Ted Cruz (TX) and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, the former Secretary of State and senator from New York. The caucuses held a few unexpected turns, and promised Americans one thing: It’s going to be close.

Among the Republican candidates, Cruz won 27.6 percent of the vote. Close behind was Donald Trump with 24.3 percent. This resulted in eight delegates and seven delegates respectively for each candidates.

Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) celebrated his bronze victory with 23.1 percent of the vote and seven delegates.

Cruz was thrilled about his victory, which many believed would go to Trump, whom Cruz has criticized for his celebrity-fueled popularity.

“Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee and the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media, will not be chosen by the Washington establishment, will not be chosen by the lobbyists,” Cruz said.

Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) led the Democratic caucuses. Iowa’s Democratic Party did not declare Clinton the victor until nearly 1 p.m. on Tuesday. She was relieved.

“My luck was not that good last time around, and it was wonderful to win the caucus, to have that experience,” Clinton told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

What was a blowout and a factor that may make Clinton sweat in the upcoming months, was Sander’s dominance among voters between the ages of 17 and 29, of which he won 84 percent.

The intricacies of the Iowa caucuses are complicated and particularly quirky in Iowa. On Monday evening, Iowans from all over the state made their way to churches, libraries and school gyms to cast their votes.

The Republican process is simpler than the Democratic process. Before the Iowans voted, a representative from each campaign had a chance to convince the voters. Local party officials then tallied the votes and sent them to the GOP headquarters in Iowa.

Those attending Democratic caucus meetings didn’t listen to representatives from each campaign give last-minute speeches. Instead they were prompted upon arrival to declare their candidate of choice. Those in mutual agreement over a candidate gathered into groups around the room, with those on the fence placed together. In order to be considered, a group must win about 15 percent of the caucus attendees in each precinct. Those in groups who passed this marker were given the opportunity to join candidates who survived the first-round vote.

When it came to the caucuses, Dana Ettinger, secretary of the Hopkins chapter of Young American for Liberty, wasn’t surprised by those who did well.

“It was going to be Trump, Cruz, and Rubio in some form. It was who came after that I was interested in,” Ettinger said. “I was amazed that Ben Carson did as well as he did. He hasn’t really been in the news lately, and his debate performances are always lackluster. He sounds like he’s in a 9 a.m. Intro Biology lecture. I had almost forgotten that he was a legitimate contender, with Rubio and Cruz surging ahead of him in the polls.”

Ettinger was pleasantly surprised by Senator Rand Paul’s (R-KY) fifth place, though he only received four percent of the vote. She has mixed feelings on Paul, saying he sometimes panders to the perceived wants of the Republican Party, but she thinks his sanity stands out among his peers.

“As a Libertarian I feel like I should like him more than I do. When he’s being true to his Libertarian values, he’s very good. His voting record is occasionally shaky. In regard to the rest of the field, I’m thrilled that he’s doing as well as he did. Given that field, he’s one of the few candidates who doesn’t sound completely insane,” she said.

Donald Trump’s move to sidestep the final debate before the caucus could have made a difference. Ettinger thinks this decision hurt him in the Iowa caucuses and benefitted his adversaries.

“Everyone else got to have a normal debate. Without Trump there to act as the chaos factor in the room, other candidates were able to be more civil and be more about issues, and less about taking cheap shots at each other,” she said. “And I think that helped a lot of them to boost their campaigns, boost their image and be taken more seriously.”

Senior Nitin Nainani, president of College Republicans, called the record high GOP turnout at the Iowa caucuses “staggering.”

“Goes to show that Republicans are fired up, and that’s a good thing for the Party,” Nainani said.

Nainani wasn’t surprised by Cruz’s win due to the fact that the evangelical favorite had been campaigning there for over a year.

“[Cruz] deserves a lot of praise for his data operations and ground game,” he said.

What was more remarkable, according to Nainani, was Trump’s success in a state where the primary electorate is evangelical, and where he spent little money relative to his running mates.

On the Democratic side, Clinton’s relief over the outcome of the caucuses shouldn’t make her too comfortable.

“I think last night was probably one of the worst outcomes for Hillary. The only thing worse would have been losing it outright. Despite having all this funding, she barely beat out Bernie Sanders who is supposed to be this fringe candidate who wasn’t supposed to get attention,” Nainani said. “This raises some questions about Hillary moving forward. Does she regain her footing? I think in the end she does.”

Despite this ultimate faith in Clinton’s political prowess, Nainani says he is quick to jump to conclusions. The only thing he can say with assurance is that the New Hampshire caucus on Wednesday will be unpredictable.

“It’s teaching people to expect the unexpected,” Nainani said. “It’s a fun race to witness.”