Populist Reform of the Democratic Party

He's the only one with the same name recognition as HRC.

I'm only kind of joking. The Clinton name is a huge thing to run against. The other big name the dem candidate might have to run against is the Bush name. Sure people don't know who Sheldon Whitehouse is, but just the slogan, "Whitehouse in the Whitehouse" would give his name staying power - keep it in the braincells, at least. Americans have such short attention spans that having a name that is memorable carries some weight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Whitehouse

Whitehouse voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Budget Control Act. He voted against Cut, Cap and Balance and the debt ceiling increase. Earlier in his first term, he voted for the Stimulus package and the TARP. He voted against cap and trade, but sponsored Offshoring Prevention and supported the Global Warming Reduction Act.[10] [11]

In traditionally liberal Rhode Island, both the Democratic Whitehouse and his predecessor, Republican Lincoln Chafee, hold liberal political positions. But Whitehouse has been to the left of Chafee on economic issues, a position that separated him from his opponent in the last election.[12] In 2007, Whitehouse was ranked the second-most liberal senator by the National Journal.[13]

Whitehouse supports stem cell research, abortion rights, LGBT rights and gay marriage, as well as affirmative action. He has publicly supported a reintroduction of the Equal Rights Amendment. Like Chafee, Whitehouse opposed intervention in Iraq (Chafee was the only Republican senator to vote against it).

He voted to confirm Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, but opposed the nomination of Samuel Alito.

~more at link