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Of those final 12 precincts we're waiting on, about half come from counties where Clinton performed well, and half where Sanders did so. Right now, Clinton’s lead stands at 49.9 to 49.6.

One whole precinct has reported, and Clinton maintains her 0.3 percent lead. Eleven to go.

Well then:

Liveblog? More like deadblog, amirite? This is painful.

Well, we’re going to call it a night here at Daily Kos Elections. As of this moment, 1,673 of 1,683 precincts are reporting for the Democrats, and Hillary Clinton holds a 49.9% to 49.6% lead over Bernie Sanders. Those percentages reflect so-called “state delegate equivalents,” not the popular vote; in these SDEs, Clinton leads 696 to 692.

Media reports have indicated that the Iowa Democratic Party is having trouble reaching a handful of precinct captains to obtain the results from those caucus sites. How this is even possible just boggles the mind. Not that we needed one, but it’s yet another reason to ditch Iowa as the first state in the nation.

Anyhow, thanks for joining us all night long, and tune in next week for New Hampshire!

If you’re following Twitter, there are all kinds of unconfirmed reports about precincts that allegedly are missing results. It's quite unclear, but in spite of those claims, the count keeps increasing on the Iowa Democratic Party website. There are now just 21 uncounted precincts, most of which are in Clinton-friendly counties, and Clinton's lead remains 49.8 to 49.6.

We finally have a little bit of clarity from the Des Moines Register:

Democratic caucus results in more than a dozen precincts are missing.

The Iowa Democratic Party reached out to the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Monday asking for their help in tracking down the missing results.

IDP Executive Director Ben Foecke sent an email to both campaigns with a spreadsheet of contacts for temporary caucus chairs. The campaigns are directing those people to dial into a hotline to report their results.

And now we’re down to just 12 precincts without results. For these precinct captains, what was unclear about the whole “and then you report the final results in to HQ” thing? #youhadonejob

Funny enough, there’s still one GOP precinct out, too. Wonder if that chair is just watching the Dem race at home and laughing.

New thread here.

Ridiculous ganja break in Iowa. 96% reporting, Clinton 49.9, Sanders 49.6. No one really seems to understand what's going on with these missing precincts (there are 61 left).

Here’s how the remaining precincts break down: 4 in Black Hawk (Sanders winning there by 8), 3 in Hancock (Clinton by 22), 11 in Polk (C+7), 3 in Woodbury (S+7). The rest have just one or two.

Overall, 34 of the 45 remaining are from counties Clinton currently leads, 10 from Sanders, and one is from a tied county.

If you’re following Twitter, there are all kinds of unconfirmed reports about precincts that allegedly are missing results. It's quite unclear, but in spite of those claims, the count keeps increasing on the Iowa Democratic Party website. There are now just 23 uncounted precincts, and Clinton's lead remains 49.8 to 49.6.

New thread here.

It’s very hard to know exactly what’s holding up the vote count at this point. For Democrats, 95% of precincts are reporting, and Clinton has a 49.8 to 49.6 edge on Sanders. Those percentages don’t represent votes, though, but rather delegates to the state convention, where Clinton has a similarly narrow 665 to 661 edge. Amazingly, the Iowa Democratic Party doesn't release actual vote totals!

Seriously?

While we’re waiting on the Democrats, the GOP count has ticked up to 99%. Cruz is at 27.7, Trump at 24.3, and Rubio at 23.1.

New thread here.

The count is now moving extremely slowly: Clinton is at 49.8, Sanders at 49.6, and 93% reporting.

Oh yeah, and Ted Cruz won.

New thread here.

Hillary Clinton is speaking now.

This count is going painfully slowly. Clinton is up 49.8 to 49.6 with 93% reporting. Just hoping we don’t have a redux of 2012, when Republicans kept counting past 2 in the morning Eastern Time—and even then got the results wrong.

Polk County still has 22 precincts out (Clinton's winning there by 8 points), Linn (home of Cedar Rapids) also has 8 out (Sanders is up 6). All other counties have 5 or fewer precincts left.

New thread here.

If you’re just tuning in, Ted Cruz has won the GOP caucuses. On the Democratic side, the race is exceptionally tight: With 90% reporting, Hillary Clinton leads 49.9 to 49.5 for Bernie Sanders.

It’s a real game of inches now, as they say: With 91% reporting, Clinton just got a boost. She's now up 50.1 to 49.3.

There are only five counties that have more than five precincts left to count: 25 in Polk (Clinton winning by 8% so far), 6 in Fayette (C+5) 9 in Linn County (Sanders +5), 8 in Woodburry (S+7), and 8 in Black Hawk (S+8).

New thread here.

Trump comes out on a positive note: “I love you people, I love you people. Thank you. Unbelievable.”

Trump claims to have defied expectations that he couldn’t even finish in the top 10 in Iowa. Expresses his affection for Mike Huckabee and thanks his own family.

It’s a more conventional campaign speech than we mostly hear from Trump, though he adds a very Trump note by citing polls showing him ahead in upcoming states.

“We will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there.”

Trump closes by suggesting maybe he’ll buy a farm in Iowa.

If you’re just joining us, Ted Cruz has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, while Marco Rubio is nipping at Donald Trump’s heels. With 89% reporting, it's Cruz 27.8, Trump 24.4, and Rubio 23.0. Cruz gets to notch the victory and beat expectations, since polls had shown him falling away from Trump. Rubio, meanwhile, also gets to beat expectations, since no one had him getting this close to 2nd place. The real loser tonight is the guy who can’t stand to lose, Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, it’s insanely tight on the Democratic side. With 88% reporting, Hillary Clinton has a narrow 49.9 to 49.5 edge on Bernie Sanders.

New thread here.

Cruz won, and 2008 Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee … well …

While Cruz has won, we're still waiting on the outcome of those final outstanding precincts. We’ll want to see how close Marco Rubio can catch up to Trump. It’s already looking like Trump has fallen well short of expectations.

So tight! Clinton 50.2, Sanders 49.2, 83% reporting.

With 84% reporting, it’s Cruz 27.7. Trump 24.4, and Rubio 23.0.

NBC just took the plunge and became the first major media organization to call Iowa for Cruz:

CBS and ABC have just followed suit and called it for Cruz, too. But it’s not over yet, since we’ll want to see how close Rubio can get to Trump.

See ya, you miserable bastard.

LESS than a 1% margin on the Dem side. Clinton 50.0, Sanders 49.4.

New thread here.