Say the 06 House flips blue but Dems' 08 presidential field bottlenecks. [View All]

This post asks who would emerge as the consensus candidate for the party in a convention at which no one Democratic candidate has the requisite majority of delegate votes for the nomination.

Not the candidate you personally like best. But which candidate the convention would agree upon as the nominee.

Remember that all the candidates in this scenario have significant support, some from centrists, some from leftist factions, and so forth. A first, second, or even third ballot victory is not within reach for any of the candidates.

There would likely be backroom deals and strategic re-alliances common to any convention, but especially characteristic of a brokered one.

Potential candidates for the Democratic Party in 08, in alphabetical order, might include:

1. Sen. Evan Bayh (IN)
2. Sen. Joe Biden (DE)
3. Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA)
4. Sen. Bill Bradley (NJ)
5. General Wesley Clark (AR)
6. Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY)
7 Sen. Christopher Dodd (CT)
8. Congressman Lloyd Doggett (TX)
9. Sen. Dick Durbin (IL)
10. Sen. John Edwards (NC)
11. Sen. Russ Feingold (WI)
12. Vice President Al Gore (TN)
13. Sen. John Kerry (MA)
14. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (OH)
15. Sen. Blanche Lincoln (AR)
16. Ambassador Carol Mosely-Braun (IL)
17. Gov. Bill Richardson (NM)
18. Gov. Brian Schweitzer (MT)
19. Rev. Al Sharpton (NY)
20. Gov. Tom Vilsack (IA)
21. Gov. Mark Warner (VA)
22. -- Other --

Again -- you're going for the consensus candidate who emerges as the nominee.

QUESTION:

Who emerges as the consensus candidate to head the 08 Democratic ticket if no one candidate has enough to win a first, second, or third ballot victory, and none of the candidates is within easy deal-making distance of threshold?