Sanders Did Even Better in Colorado Than Reported, But No One Told Him

Bernie Sanders supporters cheered when their candidate won the Colorado caucuses by a sizeable margin--59 to 40 percentage points--on Super Tuesday last month, reportedly picking up 38 pledged delegates to rival Hillary Clinton's 28.

Now, they have more to celebrate. An apparent "error" on the part of that state's Democratic Party could widen that lead even further, the Denver Posthas revealed, which would hand Sanders the Colorado delegation.

The Post reported Tuesday that the Colorado Democratic Party admitted this week to "misreporting" the March 1 caucus results from 10 precinct locations.

Adding to the controversy, the newspaper notes that the mistake "was shared with rival Hillary Clinton's campaign by party officials but kept from Sanders until the Post told his staff Monday night."

The Post reports:

The mistake is a minor shift with major implications. The new projection now shows the Vermont senator winning 39 delegates in Colorado, compared to 27 for Clinton.

Even if Clinton wins all 12 superdelegates in the state, Sanders can finish no worse than a split decision. It contrasts with prior projections from the Post, Bloomberg Politics and The Associated Press that indicated Clinton would probably win the majority of the 78 delegates in Colorado because of her support from party leaders with superdelegate status.

If he lands one Colorado superdelegate -- two are still undecided and others are facing significant pressure -- Sanders could win the state's delegation.

"We are obviously pleased to essentially narrow the delegate lead by two delegates, one up and one down, it's a zero sum game," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver told the Post in an interview.

Colorado Democratic Party officials reportedly discovered the error a week or so after the caucus, but did not publicly admit the mistake, nor change the website where it reported caucus results, coloradocaucus.org. The website still featured the incorrect numbers on Tuesday morning.

The Colorado GOP also drew heat on Monday, with Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump saying the way the state party divvies up its delegates is a "dirty system."

Earlier this month, Sanders retroactively narrowed Clinton's delegate lead in Nevada, after winning that state's county-level Democratic conventions.