Unless U.S. Senate candidate Rick Weiland can pull off an upset Election Day, the South Dakota Democratic Party will be shut out of holding a single statewide office.

I’m not sure when the last time this has happened but I don’t recall it happening since I’ve been involved in South Dakota politics in some capacity starting in 1986.

Add to this what will likely be continuing low numbers in the state legislature and a small bench of candidates for future elections and you have a political party that has its head nailed to the carpeting.

So, come early in 2015, the Democrats will be holding what might be their most important election in a generation where fewer than 50 people will be voting—who will be the new leaders of the state Democratic Party, the people who will fix the demise of an organization that not too long ago had three of the three South Dakota U.S. Senators and Representatives?

I’ve heard that current chair, Deb Knecht of Aberdeen, wants to step down. But who to replace her? And who is crazy enough to take on the fool’s errand of trying to load the notorious Democratic jackrabbits onto the party’s ever-shrinking flatbed?

Here are some rumors I’m hearing:

· Joe Lowe, former Democratic candidate for governor from Rapid City. The former California mayor and major disaster incident commander has the organizational skills, passion and command presence to turn the state Democrat’s Winter Storm Atlas-like situation into success. But he may have political aims of his own, like another run for governor in 2018.

· Jeff Barth, Democratic Minnehaha County Commissioner from Sioux Falls. An increasing voice of passion from the party’s labor/populist side, Barth is in some ways now the most senior and important Democratic office holder in South Dakota. (Yes, that a county commissioner is the top dog speaks of how low the Democrats have sunk.) But like Lowe, he too may have political plans of his own.

· Mike Huether, mayor of Sioux Falls. Huether wants to be governor of South Dakota. Badly. But family considerations might keep him from running. So what’s a former mayor to do after running the state’s largest city? Like Lowe, he’s managed in large organizations (banking and the city) and is a tireless worker. But he too might want to run for statewide office.

And there may be others crazy enough to want the job.

However, other good and accomplished people like former gubernatorial candidate Jack Billion have tried to drain the state Democratic Party swamp as chair. They are met with hostility and resistance by rural and non-Sioux Falls Democrats and old timers who want to cling to George McGovern’s old ways of doing things and what little power and influence they have.

And screw over the Sioux Falls metro area Democrats any chance they can get. Even though a statewide Democrat can’t win unless they carry or do very, very well in Sioux Falls and the metro.

And former Senators Tom Daschle and soon to be former Senator Tim Johnson built their own political machines and didn’t invest too much in the state party. Because they knew the state party was dysfunctional and they wanted to win, not argue and herd wayward donkeys.

Even if Weiland pulls off the upset of all South Dakota political upsets, that still doesn’t fix the state Democratic Party and what it needs to do to be a viable political force in the state. In fact, it only probably papers over the problem for another six years.

Meanwhile, the South Dakota Republican Party rolls on, like a Humvee crushing a child’s Lego blocks left in the driveway.

More From KXRB