Sanders did win something in Nevada: The tele-caucus

After winning the county in Nevada that holds more than 70 percent of the state's population, Hillary Clinton can claim a decisive win in Nevada – if not as decisive as she would have liked.

As The Fix's Philip Bump breaks down, Clinton did better than her opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, with voters 45 and older (exit polling shows she got about 6 out of every 10 votes in that age group) and women (she got 55 percent of the female vote to Sanders's 42 percent, according to CNN).

Clinton, clearly relieved, cast Saturday as a victory. She can head into next week's South Carolina primary somewhat blunting Sanders' momentum.

But there's one area where Clinton didn't so well: Nevada Democratic voters abroad. Caucusing is a you-have-to-be-there event. But for the first time ever, Nevada Democrats set up a dial-in caucus for Nevada Democrats living abroad.

Nevada registered Democrats such as students, Peace Corps volunteers, diplomats and members of the military and their families living abroad got on the equivalent of a conference call during caucus time Saturday and cast their vote. (The process was not without controversy, though, since it appeared that people who wanted to participate had to pay for the potentially hours-long call.)

But the tele-caucus went on, and among those voters, it appears Sanders had the edge.

It's a small prize, to be sure. Nevada's in-person caucus offered up 35 delegates, which will be distributed proportionally based on Saturday's results. (Results indicate that Clinton will have at least 18, Sanders 14.)

But after a not-amazing night, perhaps Sanders and his supporters can take heart that at least they won the vote of Nevada Peace Corps volunteers.

This story was originally published February 20, 2016 at 1:13 PM with the headline "Sanders did win something in Nevada: The tele-caucus."