With Hillary “officially” in the race for the Democratic nomination I honestly don’t know how we wind up having any sort of serious primary on her side of the field. The handful of Democrats and Dem leaning independents who are being seriously discussed as alternatives either don’t hold much promise or are flatly refusing to run. Joe Biden should have been a default hot choice by virtue of spending this much time a heartbeat away from the presidency. But Joe’s good nature, “funny guy” persona combined with his propensity for awkward gaffes and uncomfortable moments have turned him into something of a joke. Elizabeth Warren would set the hard Left liberal base on fire (and she would be a dream candidate for the GOP) but I’ve gotten to the point where I believe her repeated denials… she’s just not going to run. Martin O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee simply don’t have the national credentials to mount a serious challenge. And don’t even get me started on Bernie Sanders.

In a way, Hillary Clinton does a tremendous disservice to her party by showing up like the 800 pound gorilla in the room. The GOP didn’t have an obvious “I’m Next” candidate with Mitt out of the picture and it’s opened the door to a plethora of interesting young guns (along with a few more experienced heads) who seem to promise an invigorated, lively debate on the Right this year. But if it weren’t for Hillary, the Democrats could have seen a similar wild patch of sprouts popping up and some of them might have been able to fire up Democrats across the nation. While I’m not tying to help the other team, here are a few names which might have been serving as the Democrat equivalent to Cruz, Walker and Rubio if they hadn’t been shut down before they could get within sight of the starting line.

1. Kirsten Gillibrand. The New York senator who took Hillary’s seat after she quit to go to the State Department has been a regular fixture on the cable news shows and generated a lot of buzz. At 48 years of age she fits into the “young gun” category to attract millennials while still checking off the all important “first female president” box. She’s got a very high TV Q score with her looks and solid delivery. She would have to deal with the flip-flopping charges stemming from when she “remade” herself for statewide office in New York, but could at least try to harken back to her early roots as a very moderate Democrat in a GOP leaning House district who espoused some positively conservative views on a few issues. With the right marketing campaign she could have taken off, and still might in the future.

2. Daniel Malloy. Connecticut’s governor (and former big city mayor) may not be much of a national name at present, but he keeps his hand in the game nationally by granting a lot of interviews. Yes, he’s got the problem of being Another White Man, but he picked up a lot of steam in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings. He enacted some really awful gun control laws after that which would hinder him in the general election but would set the base on fire in a primary race. He’s also a candidate who had to overcome physical disabilities as a youth so he’s got the whole compassionate back story thing going for him. He’s a little stiff on the stump, but with a good team of handlers he could overcome that.

3. Cory Booker. There’s probably nobody in the country who would love to see Cory Booker in the White House more than Cory Booker, but that wouldn’t necessarily rule him out. He’s a consummate media hound and the press would flock to him. He doesn’t have much time in the Senate, but he’d come to the battle with big city mayoral experience giving him considerably more executive bona fides than Obama had while still ticking the box for Democrats wanting to keep the diversity train rolling. He’s got a whiff of scandal in his background from his business dealings, but it’s probably just enough to make the primary interesting rather than ruling him out. Plus, Obama never rescued people from burning buildings or saved freezing puppies. BONUS: He’s a vegan.

There are others, I’m sure, but without Hillary sucking all the oxygen out of the room any of these folks might have made a grab for the brass ring. Of course, absent the Clinton coronation, Biden would have already been running hard by last fall and probably would have been able to attract the kind of money and top level endorsements to go deep. Warren might have gotten in as well, setting the stage against him as the Democrat equivalent of the establishment vs the Tea Party on the GOP side. The others would have filled up the rest of the clown car and one of them could quite possibly have found a breakout moment and taken the top two down.

To be clear, they would all be terrible choices for America if they actually won in the general election, but at least it would have been competitive and interesting to watch. As things stand now, however, it’s going to be a full year of watching Hillary’s paint dry on the Democrats’ wall.