by Jon Palmer
NASHUA, N.H. (WBZ NewsRadio) — While his campaign is criticizing the chaos and delayed results of the Iowa Caucus, Former Vice President Joe Biden told a New Hampshire crowd he's setting his sights on the Granite State.
Speaking in Nashua Tuesday afternoon in his first post-Iowa appearance, Biden covered health care, the recovery from the 2008 recession, gun control, and his promise to restore integrity to the Oval Office—while occasionally being disrupted by hecklers, two of whom were tossed from the event.
"Come on, pal, give me a break, will ya?" Biden said to one of the protesters, before telling the crowd, "Now you know how badly Trump doesn't want me running against him!"
When it comes to the previous night's first-in-the-nation contest, Biden said he was certain he'll get his "fair share" from the Hawkeye State.
"Now it's time for New Hampshire to speak, and speak loudly," he said.
Joe Biden in Nashua, New Hampshire Tuesday. (Karyn Regal/WBZ NewsRadio)
Though Biden himself may have moved on, many were still eagerly awaiting the official tally out of Iowa, including Biden's campaign staff, who had harsh words about the Iowa Democratic Party's handling of the caucus.
Biden Senior Advisor Symone Sanders told reporters there were "grotesque, grotesque breakdowns in the process, and the integrity of this election is at stake."
On Monday night, as it became clear the results of the caucus would be greatly delayed, the campaign's general counsel, Dana Ramus, sent a scathing letter to the Iowa Democratic Party, chastising them for technology and process failures.
"The app that was intended to relay Caucus results to the Party failed; the Party's back-up telephonic reporting system likewise has failed," the letter read. "Now, we understand the Caucus Chairs are attempting to—and in many cases, failing to—report results telephonically to the Party. These acute failures are occurring statewide."
The letter demanded "full explanations" about the Iowa Democratic Party's quality control methods, as well as "an opportunity to respond before any official results are released."
Sanders said the campaign wants to be sure that when the results are out, the Iowa Democratic Party gets them right. However, she denied reports that the campaign was threatening litigation over the results.
"What our campaign is frankly saying is, look, the integrity of the process is key," Sanders said. "We implore the Iowa Democratic Party to check, check again, and check a third time on their data to make sure the numbers are accurate before they release anything."
Her call came as other campaigns, including that of Sen. Bernie Sanders, shared internal—and completely unofficial—data showing Biden with a poor Iowa performance.
Jeff Weaver, a Senior Advisor with Sen. Sanders' campaign, released incomplete data based on their campaign's own internal tally of caucus results, which showed the Vermont senator in the lead—with Biden trailing in fourth.
Weaver told Buzzfeed News the caucus was "an extremely bad night for Joe Biden's campaign."
“He wildly underperformed, and so I can understand why they’d be upset about having the results released," Weaver told the website.
Sanders, the Biden advisor, pushed back against rumors Biden performed poorly—and spoke out against sharing incomplete data.
"We think we did well!" she said. "I reject that notion, and anyone who is asserting what their numbers are is doing so based on internal data as we are. We do not know what the final numbers bore out. I would also note that a number of campaigns chose to cherry-pick data that showed them doing well in specific precincts ... we should not be releasing partial numbers, and we need to make sure we are able to back up that data."
She was also asked about other candidates' premature declarations of victory. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg appeared to claim in the very early morning hours that his campaign was victorious.
"I would just say, it's just not accurate, there is no data," Sanders said. "Victory is determined by state delegate equivalencies, ladies and gentlemen. We don't have any of those right now."
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports
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