The Iowa caucuses are the inaugural event of the American presidential nomination process. When the state Democratic Party failed to report the 2020 caucus results in a timely manner, researchers began to assess how party and press officials co-constructed the events. This research presents an in-depth case of the Iowa state and local Democratic Party’s public communication response regarding an event described by the Des Moines Register as “hell” and a “results catastrophe.” Specifically, we were interested in how the Iowa Democratic Party responded to the crisis event and the extent to which the party organization was successful in disseminating favorable messaging about the caucus process to the local press. Drawing on organizational crisis management and echoing press perspectives, this analysis uses network and qualitative analytic approaches to assess message development, dissemination, and ultimately adoption. A local event with national implications presents a critical case in investigating how a political party, due to its institutional role in American elections and unique organizational structure, struggled to respond to the crisis.

爱荷华州的预选会议是美国总统提名过程的首个事件。当州民主党未能及时报告2020年核心小组会议的结果时，研究人员开始评估党和新闻官员如何共同组织这些活动。这项研究深入介绍了爱荷华州和地方民主党就得梅因纪事报所描述的事件的公众沟通反应称为“地狱”和“结果灾难”。具体而言，我们对爱荷华州民主党如何应对危机事件以及该党组织在多大程度上成功地向地方媒体传播有关核心小组会议过程的信息表示关注。借助组织危机管理并回应新闻界的观点，此分析使用网络和定性分析方法来评估消息的开发，传播和最终采用。一个具有全国性影响力的地方事件为调查一个政党如何发挥关键作用，因为该政党在美国大选中的机构作用和独特的组织结构如何应对危机。