What If Hillary Clinton Doesn't Run For President? The Democrats Will Be Fine.

Please pardon the obvious. As sitting Vice President, Biden's done serious work on some tantamount issues, like rebuilding the economy, ending the war in Iraq, and heading the Gun Violence Task Force. Add to that his high-profile years of Senate experience, his increased public profile since he last ran, and multiple stints as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, and you've got a real contender.

Facing off against Scott Brown in the last fall, Warren succeeded by mobilizing liberals and raising massive amounts of money to become the first female U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Warren's a freshman senator, but she's already making waves on the Senate Banking Committee. She also introduced the Bank on Student Loans Fairness Act this May, which would allow students to take out government education loans at the same rate that big banks pay to borrow from the federal government. Major awesome points.

As one of the country's most popular governors, Cuomo worked tirelessly to legalize same-sex marriage in New York (check out this amazing NYT piece detailing his efforts). He also signed the NY SAFE Act into law, which he calls the toughest gun control law in the U.S. Though liberal, Cuomo might be a strong candidate nationally—especially because New York is a heavily populated state with a humongous pool of potential donors.

Patrick's impressive Democratic National Convention speech put him on a lot of political radars—not that he wasn't there already. Before becoming governor, he served as the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division under President Bill Clinton. During his time as governor, he's overseen the implementation of the state's 2006 health care reform program, increased educational funding, and passed an overhaul of state transportation industries to create the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. A pretty stacked list of accomplishments, huh?

Gillibrand is hugely popular among her New York constituents, and also has a long list of potential donors. Add to that her strong fundraising abilities, and her already impressive Senate tenure, and she might be a contender. Gillibrand played a key role in the successful campaign to repeal the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, and her Senate agenda includes lots of great, forward-thinking initiatives: cutting middle class taxes, ensuring U.S. competitiveness by creating high tech jobs, and making Washington more accountable, to name a few.

Before he was Mayor of Chicago, Emanuel was a three-term congressman, and then Obama's Chief of Staff. Though he's known as a partisan Democrat, he managed to win over even conservative Sen. Lindsey Graham who responding to his 2008 appointment said, "This is a wise choice by President-elect Obama. He's tough but fair, honest, direct and candid." Presidential qualities, are they not?

O'Malley has a packed resume. Before his days as working as a governor, he served as Mayor of Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. In May, Maryland became the first state south of the Mason Dixon line to abolish the death penalty after O'Malley signed the bill into law. As a strong Obama supporter, he could receive the President's endorsement if he decides to run. Needless to say, that's a big one.