The 2020 campaign season is off to an inauspicious start for Democrats. Iowa’s reporting debacle has left Democrats without a clear result in their first nominating contest, sowing suspicions as to whether there will ever be an accurate count.

Things reached an extraordinary point on Thursday, with Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez calling for the Iowa Democratic Party to recanvass its results. Beyond the counting problems, Sen. Bernie Sanders’s rise means Democrats are facing the prospect of running in swing states with a socialist at the top of the ticket. Either that, or they will have to deny him the nomination in a way that will further inflame his passionate supporters, who already feel the 2016 primary was rigged against them.