Ben Jacobs for The Guardian:

Iowa Democrats are increasingly worried the state party may not be prepared for the caucuses on 1 February, putting Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status at risk.

With a little more than 80 days left, a number of top Democrats in the state expressed their concerns to the Guardian that the party has not done the work necessary to ensure that the caucuses, run solely by the Iowa Democratic party, will go smoothly.

Iowa Democrats described growing anxiety over a state party they said was drifting and unprepared to organize in 1,681 precincts to ensure the result of the contest to pick Iowa’s choice for the Democratic presidential nomination is promptly reported.

In 2012, no winner was declared in the Republican caucuses for almost three weeks because of problems reporting accurate results. The state Republican party eventually announced that Rick Santorum had beaten Mitt Romney. There are mounting fears that the Democratic caucuses in 2016 may go the same way.

Flashback to my Feb. 2012 Slate piece: Kill the Caucuses! Maine, Nevada, and Iowa were embarrassing. It’s time to make primaries the rule.