The traditional opening contest of the Presidential delegate-gathering marathon fizzled this week with Monday’s Iowa caucuses still mired in confusion and no results even a day later.

As of press time Tuesday afternoon, a Democrat winner had not been named and no determination was made about how the state’s delegates would be split among the field of candidates.

The problem was blamed on a new app the state Democrat Party instituted to report results from Iowa’s 1,681 precincts and new reporting guidelines that require precinct chairmen to include both the first and final vote totals.

To receive any delegates, a candidate must carry at least 15% of the total caucus votes cast.

With only 41 delegates at stake out of a total of 4,051 Democrat delegates nationwide, the nomination will by no means be decided in Iowa.

But the one-two punch of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary a week later traditionally winnows down the broad field of candidates as those who fail to make a showing in the first two contests begin to drop out of the race.

A win at Iowa also can generate valuable momentum for the campaign of the candidate who finishes there in the top spot.

But this year’s delays and uncertainty left the top candidates all claiming a victory of sorts and moving on to New Hampshire before official results were even announced.

Oklahoma Democrats will decide how this state’s 42 pledged delegates are assigned at the March 3 Presidential primary election.