DNC chair Tom Perez steps into Iowa disaster, calls for recanvass of caucus vote: 'enough is enough'

Don't hold your breath for the results of the Iowa Democratic caucuses, because now the Democratic National Committee is stepping in and calling for a total recanvass of the vote.

All the results have still not been reported, and the ones that have been reported are not accurate. That's why Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez, seeing the credibility of his party's primary crumbling in the very first state, is attempting to intervene.

"Enough is enough," Perez said in a tweet. "In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass."

Perez said the recanvass will be a review of worksheets from the caucus sites to ensure accuracy.

With 97 percent of the results reported, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, is leading democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) by 0.1% — meaning even insignificant errors could potentially result in the wrong candidate being declared the winner.

Sanders supporters already hold to a belief that the Democratic Party establishment opposes his candidacy, and uncertainty about the accuracy of the results will pour gas on that fire if Sanders comes out on the losing end.

Even the timing of the call for recanvassing has the potential to upset Sanders supporters, who may feel that calling for a review of the results before they're all in is just another way of undercutting Sanders' momentum.

"The Iowa caucus should be recanvassed AFTER the results are fully reported out," wrote Hill.tv host Krystal Ball on Twitter. "It is wildly manipulative and irresponsible to do so at 97% of the vote just as Sanders' lead was set to be revealed."

Buttigieg, meanwhile, declared victory in Iowa on Monday night based on his campaign's internal data, then simply moved on to New Hampshire. On Thursday, Sanders also declared victory, pointing to a slight lead in the raw vote total.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny reported that the Iowa Democratic Party was blindsided by this sudden request for a recanvass — and also noted that Perez conveniently omitted the fact that the Democratic National Committee had been "running the show in Iowa for the last 48 hours."