Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

The sad reality of American campaigns is that they start earlier and earlier. There's not much time left for a "someone else" to come forward and set up the organization, recruit the staffers and early donors (especially, alas, big donors), etc.

My current highly subjective take on our options:
1. Warren won't run despite "draft" efforts. (If she does run, I'll throw myself into helping her campaign. I'd quit my job... if I had one.)
2. Sanders will run and will run as an FDR Democrat. For several reasons, though, it's hard to see him being nominated or elected. Supporting him might nevertheless have value in pulling the party to the left. I'll certainly vote for him over Clinton if, by the time of my primary, he's her leading opponent.
3. Other people who are likely to mount credible campaigns are Martin O'Malley and Jim Webb. One possibility at this point is for one of them to emerge as a more-or-less-FDRish Democrat and get our support. I think that's unlikely in Webb's case but O'Malley might make the grade.
4. In the next tier, in terms of likelihood of running, is Brian Schweitzer. He seems to be a mix of populist and Western conservative Democrat. I evaluate him as both less likely to run and less FDR-ish than O'Malley.
5. There are plenty of us who are ready for someone else but that fact has not enticed the likes of Sherrod Brown, Russ Feingold, Alan Grayson, or Sheldon Whitehouse into the race. Here's where the time factor comes in. If one of those four or some other progressive were thinking about running, we'd already be hearing about the meetings with donors and strategists, even if not yet the formal exploratory committee. The door hasn't completely closed but I have to rate it as highly unlikely that one of them will run.

Sorry if I sound pessimistic. I am pessimistic. I think Clinton will run and will win the nomination. If she doesn't run, I think Andrew Cuomo will jump in and be an immediate front-runner, and I'd actually rather see us nominate Clinton.

My ideal candidate is something along the lines of O'Malley's bio (executive experience, most electable age group, no S-word on his rap sheet) combined with Sanders's ideology. I expect to be disappointed.