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Trivia answer

Which of the following Democrats won the narrowest Iowa caucus victory in party history?
a. Hillary Clinton (2016)
b. John Kerry (2004)
c. Walter Mondale (1984)
d. Barack Obama (2008)

The Iowa caucuses, which were the first nominating contest of the 2020 presidential election, took place Jan. 3. In the 2016 Iowa Democratic caucus, Hillary Clinton defeated Bernie Sanders by a margin of 0.3 percentage points, the narrowest win for a Democrat in state history. The narrowest Iowa caucus result for either party was the 2012 Republican caucus. That year, Rick Santorum defeated eventual nominee Mitt Romney by a margin of 0.1 percentage points.

Republican and Democratic caucuses in Iowa operate under different procedures. In both parties' caucuses, voters from a precinct assemble at a specific meeting place and listen to speeches from each of the campaigns before the nomination process begins. At the caucus, delegates are selected to attend county party conventions, where nominations will then be held for district conventions, then the state convention in June.

In a Republican caucus, delegate selection is based on a vote of caucusgoers. In a Democratic caucus, caucusgoers assemble into groups based on which candidate they support. Any candidate who received less than 15% support in the first count is deemed non-viable. Caucusgoers who backed a non-viable candidate are allowed to switch groups before a second count, known as the final count, takes place. After the final count takes place, caucus organizers announce each candidate's projected support at the state convention, or state delegate equivalents, based on the caucus results.

The Democratic Party of Iowa made several changes to the caucus process ahead of the 2020 elections. In previous election years, there could be multiple rounds of realignment between the first count and final count, giving caucusgoers additional chances to change their support. Additionally, caucusgoers who backed candidates that broke 15% support on the first count were allowed to switch groups in previous years. Reporting of caucus results was also handled differently in 2020. In previous caucuses, the Democratic Party reported only the final state delegate equivalents. In 2020, the first count and final count votes were also released.

The all-time best performance in a contested Iowa caucus was Sen. Tom Harkin's (D-Iowa) 76.4% win in 1992. Harkin went on to win Minnesota and Idaho but was ultimately defeated by then-Gov. Bill Clinton (D-Ark.).