Imagine the scene: Washington D.C., 2009, the year after a Barack Obama loss:

The Democratic Party looks like something out of Night of the Living Dead: Angry at the world, eating its own, no idea what to do with itself.

Jane McClain has dreamed of an Obama defeat. Her plan if that happens?

“Cry for a week.”

For McClain, a 70-year-old Kansas Citian who volunteered for the Democrat’s campaign this year, the idea of an Obama defeat is almost too much to contemplate. But there she was the other night, with a group of other women at dinner, eyeballing John McCain’s slowly improving poll numbers and, well, the thought crossed her mind.

What if it happens?

Just imagine it: One more loss for the Democratic Party in a race for the White House, its ninth in 14 elections. All those young people and first-time voters excited about Obama, eager to see a dynamic new figure in charge, let down, dispirited, disillusioned by the outcome.

Just imagine it. African Americans angered by the verdict, struggling to understand why Democrats gained seats in the House and Senate only to see the first black nominee go down.

Jim Crow is dead? Nope, he just got invited to dinner.

The greatest get-out-the-vote machine in American history, 25,000 volunteers knocking on 1.3 million doors this weekend just in Missouri. All for naught.

This was maximum Democratic effort, 100 percent thrust, no stone left unturned. What more can it possibly take? In 2000, Al Gore had it in the bag, then came Florida. In 2004, John Kerry’s advisers started whistling “Hail to the Chief” and he was ahead in election-night exit polls, only to see victory snatched away again.

Now 2008. Obama almost certainly will win the popular vote, experts say. But what if that’s not enough for the second time in eight years?

McCain will promise to reach across the aisle, but George W. Bush said that, too. Democrats will recoil and guarantee one thing: no help from us.Back in the Senate, Obama immediately begins to vie with Hillary Clinton for the title of titular party leader. Both want another shot in 2012.

They take turns showing who’s standing toughest against McCain, and U.S. government grinds to a halt even at a time when urgent action is desperately needed.

They jostle and skirmish, and party members rush to take sides.

The Democratic Leadership Council springs into action one more time, calling for a more moderate sensibility as the way to curry favor with a majority of voters. Liberals flip out, demanding that Democrats stand tall and not compromise their principles.

On a different front, party leaders launch a bitter fight over nomination rules. Clinton backers demand a winner-take-all decree. Win a state even by a single vote, and you win all the delegates. That would have given her the nomination this year.Obama backers stand by the proportional distribution. Win 60 percent of the vote, you get 60 percent of the delegates. That’s how he won.

"There’ll be all this and more,” said Joe Aistrup, a KSU political scientist.

If the Arizona senator wins, McClain says maybe she’ll move to France where her in-laws run a bed-and-breakfast.

"Unfortunately, I don’t speak French very well,” she said.

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Way ahead in the race for governor and with big money still in his campaign warchest, Democrat Jay Nixon is now working to bring fellow Democrats into office with him next January.Nixon has (finally, some would say) opened the financial spigot.

In recent days, he’s made sizable donations to several of his fellow Democratic statewide candidates: $75,000 to treasurer contender Clint Zweifel, $25,000 to attorney general candidate Chris Koster and $25,000 to Sam Page, candidate for lieutenant governor.

As of Monday, Nixon reported $1.7 million in the bank and bucks still rolling in, especially now that many Missourians expect him to be the next governor.

If there’s been a knock on Nixon from his fellow Democrats, it’s that he’s not exactly been a great team player.

He apparently is now trying to get that right.

To reach Steve Kraske, call 816-234-4312 or send e-mail to skraske@kcstar.com.