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Des Moines, Iowa (CNN) -- Imagine if Iowa held a caucus and nobody but Hillary Clinton showed up.

Democrats of all stripes, including Clinton allies, have predicted for months that the former Secretary of State -- who was campaigning for midterm candidates in Iowa on Wednesday -- will face some kind challenge in the race for the Democratic nomination if she decides to run. The prospect of a Clinton campaign seems more likely with each passing day.

But with the presidential race set to lurch into gear after next week's midterm elections and no clear alternative to Clinton emerging, there are questions about whether she will be the sole candidate on the ballot. That would mark a dramatic shift from the rollicking caucus fights in previous campaigns, including Clinton's battle with Barack Obama and John Edwards in 2008.

"There is a distinct possibility that there will be no serious alternative," said Kurt Meyer, a plugged-in Democratic activist from Mitchell County, Iowa. "She may in essence have the field to herself, with one or two fringe protest candidates and no serious candidates opposing her."

The prospect of an uncontested race is a little bewildering to some Democrats here, where competitive caucuses are ingrained in the culture.

"It could be a process with just one person," said Bonnie Campbell, a longtime Clinton loyalist in Des Moines. "None of us can imagine that, because it hasn't really happened before."

For their part, the GOP isn't worrying about a boring race. A platoon of Republicans Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz and others have paraded through Iowa for the last two years, almost shamelessly transparent about their national intentions.

Among the cast of Democratic potentials, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is the most active in Iowa, helping candidates up and down the ballot with campaign stops, paid staffers and financial assistance. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is also visible. Both men have said they are seriously considering running regardless of what Clinton does, though it's hard to imagine Sanders, a 73-year-old self-described socialist, mounting much more than a protest candidacy.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a progressive darling with grassroots appeal, whipped up a frenzy in the college town of Iowa City earlier this month at a campaign event for Senate candidate Bruce Braley in Iowa City. Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb is weighing a run and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick hasn't quite ruled it out. Vice President Joe Biden, of course, is nurturing his long-standing relationships in the state.

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Hillary Clinton could end up alone in Iowa

Former Obama chief strategist David Plouffe is advising Hillary Clinton to announce her intention to run for president shortly after the 2014 election concludes, according to a terrific piece this morning by Politico's Maggie Haberman and Glenn Thrush.Why not? Plouffe reportedly told Clinton about the prospect of an early announcement. They are already going after you.

Plouffe is right -- both for the practical reasons outlined in the quote above and for more symbolic, but no less important, reasons too.

The reality of being Hillary Clinton -- the best known politician not named Barack Obama in the country and a massive frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination -- is that the campaign both for and against her is already well under way. There are outside organizations designed to gather opposition research against her (America Rising) and to protect her from that criticism (Correct The Record). There is a super PAC -- Priorities USA -- that is expected to carry the load of the pro-Clinton, anti-Clinton-opponent advertising and another one (Ready for Hillary) building a grassroots network for her candidacy.

Hillary Clinton, in the eyes of the political world, is already running for president. Waiting to acknowledge what everyone already knows and has spent the last year-plus preparing for makes little sense -- particularly because running for the nation's highest office requires massive amounts of time for fundraising, organization building, message development and so on and so forth. Why play coy when there's no mystery? Get in and start running. Everybody already assumes you are.

The less obvious but maybe more important reason for Clinton to announce sooner rather than later is that it would be somewhat unorthodox and unexpected. The conventional wisdom surrounding Clinton's timing on announcing is that she wants to wait as long as possible for people to see her in a political light. Her approval ratings have been sky high for years now because she hasn't been in office (or running for office) so why not preserve that "I'm not a politician (yet)" vibe for as a long as possible?

Clinton spent the entirety of her 2008 race for president guided by just this sort of conventional wisdom. It led to her being perceived -- and being -- an overly cautious politician who always wanted to see which way the wind was blowing before making up her mind about anything. (Remember that the start of Clinton's slide in the 2008 primary was when she tried to have it both ways on a question about undocumented workers getting driver's licenses at the end of a debate in the summer of 2007.)

Clinton needs to run a different kind of campaign this time. And, she has the luxury to do some unconventional things because, unlike in 2008, there is no real threat to her among the other Democrats thinking semi-seriously about running for president. By "taking a risk" and announcing early -- although, of course, it's really no risk at all given her lack of competition -- Clinton can show insiders, donors and activists (aka the only people paying any attention at this point) that this campaign is going to be different than the last one.

Add it up and there's really no reason for Clinton not to get into the presidential race shortly after the 2014 midterms conclude. Unless, of course, she decides not to run.

Chris Cillizza writes The Fix, a politics blog for the Washington Post. He also covers the White House.

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The Fix: Why Hillary Clinton would be smart to announce her presidential candidacy ASAP

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. (WJZ) Its the final push before Marylands general election. Larry Hogan and Democrat Anthony Brown have just one more weekend to sway the voters.

Both candidates are out in force, trying to pick up every last vote.

Rick Ritter was out for a busy night on the campaign trail.

Hillary Clinton made her way to Maryland Thursday to show her support for Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown. Both Brown and Hogan seem to be neck and neck, pushing for every last vote.

The clock is ticking, and early voting is in the books.

Im tired of paying taxes, said Vernon Gauss, Hogan supporter.

I have no problem telling you I voted for Brown Ulman, said Stephanie Wall, Brown supporter.

Maryland is inching closer to election day and both campaigns are in full swing. Its one final push to become Marylands next governor.

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Hillary Clinton Rallies Voters For Anthony Brown In College Park

Hillary Clinton smiles during her remarks at a campaign rally for Lieutenant Governor Anthony Brown in Maryland. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters

Hillary Clinton was repeatedly heckled during a campaign stop on Thursday after immigration reform activists took turns to interrupt her speech before being escorted out of an auditorium by police.

The coordinated protest during a rally for Maryland gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown, involved about two dozen students dotted around the audience who intermittently shouted at Clinton and held aloft placards that read Put Families Over Politics.

Hecklers are not uncommon at political rallies and Clinton, a strong advocate of comprehensive immigration reform who enjoys strong popularity ratings among Latinos, has been pursued repeatedly by the campaign group United We Dream, which claimed responsibility for the protest.

Activists affiliated with the group interrupted Clinton five days ago, in North Carolina. They did the same again at a fundraiser in New York last month.

However reporters who followed Clinton as she has criss-crossed the nation during this election cycle, described Thursdays intervention as the most sustained heckling campaign to date.

Mario Carillo, a spokesman for United We Dream, said that while he recognised Clinton supported immigration reform, she had been pretty silent on whether Barack Obama should use his executive authority to further suspend deportations against undocumented migrants.

For the most part, Clinton looked unperturbed, and took the interruptions in her stride. With the possible exception of her husband, former president Bill Clinton, few Democratic surrogates have been as in demand in the midterm campaigns as Hillary Clinton.

In the last seven weeks, she has stumped in Kentucky, New York, New Hampshire, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Maine, North Carolina and turned up twice in Iowa and Colorado.

This weekend, Clinton will travel again to both Kentucky and New Hampshire, in support of Democrats Alison Lundergan Grimes and Jeanne Shaheen. She will also squeeze in a stop in New Orleans to back Louisianas Mary Landrieu.

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Hillary Clinton heckled by immigration activists at latest stop in campaign tour

On her second trip to Iowa since her presidential caucus loss in 2008, Hillary Rodham Clinton got a piece of Iowa swag that could prove useful for her new grandchild -- and for Clinton herself if she runs in 2016: a black and gold University of Iowa sleeper emblazoned with the Hawkeye logo.

It was a nod to Clintons plans from Rep. Bruce Braley, the Democratic candidate for Senate here, who proclaimed that the most important birthday in America in 2014 was when sweet Charlotte" -- the first grandchild of Hillary and Bill Clinton -- "was born.

So I decided it would be appropriate for Charlotte to have a memento of this trip since this is the Hawkeye State, he said.

Of course, Clinton was here in Iowa not to discuss her own future but to campaign for Braley, who handed over the baby pajamas just before ceding the microphone at a preelection rally held at the headquarters of the local ironworkers union.

Though President Obama carried Iowa in 2012, Braley is locked in one of the tightest races for U.S. Senate in the country, with Republican State Sen. Joni Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard who is running on a promise that she would bring Iowa ways to Washington, D.C.

Braley and his fellow Democrats have tried to paint Ernst as too extreme for Iowa, particularly given its increasingly blue tinge. As with Senate candidate Cory Gardner of Colorado, Democrats have argued that Ernst is far more conservative than most Iowa women on issues such as abortion and personhood.

On Wednesday, both Braley and Clinton spent a good deal of time discussing those issues, as well as their support for raising the minimum wage and wage equality for men and women.

It is not enough to be a woman. You have to be committed to expanding rights and opportunities for all women, Clinton said in a dig at Ernst, made without mentioning her name. She laid out a series of questions for Ernst and other GOP candidates on personhood measures -- which would give full human rights from the moment of conception -- and access to affordable contraception coverage.

Theres a big difference between these two candidates," she said.

Clinton also touted the nations improving economy You can see Americas comeback but quickly noted that the economy had not improved for everyone and that it was increasingly hard to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.

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Hillary Clinton to Iowa voters: 'Dig deep' for Democrat Bruce Braley