As much as folks across the United States focus on Iowa every four years for the first stages of the presidential nominating process — and let’s face it, with a “lame duck” Obama presidency coming in 2016, the next time around is going to be wild — all eyes will be focused on the Hawkeye State’s political landscape for the foreseeable future.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s announcement Saturday that he will not seek re-election in 2014 has shaken the figurative ant farm that is the Iowa political scene. Democrats assumed Harkin would run again and had been focusing on how to unseat Gov. Terry Branstad during this “off-year” cycle. Now they have to find top-flight candidates for both of the top-of-the-ballot races.

And it’s not as though they’re lacking of candidates. And this early in the process, there are no “short lists.” Everyone who is anyone in the Iowa Democratic Party has to be weighing his or her options for both gubernatorial and senatorial runs.