WASHINGTON — Has no one told these people about the free candy?

When former Gov. John Hickenlooper of Colorado dropped out of the presidential race on Thursday, he made a point of noting that people were all but begging him to run for the Senate. Mr. Hickenlooper, who had previously dismissed a Senate run, said he would now give the idea “some serious thought,” evincing all the enthusiasm of a bride mulling boiled verses baked potatoes for the reception.

The fact that a currently underemployed Democrat who was at zero to one percent in the polls is now treating a chance to serve in the most elite legislative body in the country as a massive booby prize is a remarkable statement about the institution.

There are reasons to be turned off: The lack of a substantive legislative agenda. Gruesome and unending partisanship. The death of earmarks that, for so many years, fueled projects on the home front. The eroding power of the Senate committees.

But in the words of former Representative Beto O’Rourke on Thursday, has the Senate really become not “good enough”?

Mr. O’Rourke, who came fairly close to edging out Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas in 2018, was arguing that running for Senate again in 2020 would not be as good for his hometown El Paso or for the country as running for president — even though his candidacy is struggling.

Steve Bullock, the popular governor of Montana and perhaps his party’s only chance at grabbing a Senate seat in that state in 2020, is also choosing to hang on to his low-polling White House bid. This week, too, Stacey Abrams, a Democratic star who ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2018, said she will spend 2020 working to prevent voter suppression instead of seeking the presidency or challenging Senator David Perdue in his first re-election campaign.

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“Being a senator isn’t the job it used to be,” said Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor for The Cook Political Report. “Little is ever accomplished, despite the acknowledgment that there is much to do. These days, the Senate is a great job for someone who enjoys banging his or her head against a wall.”

Yes but. It’s. Still. The. Senate. Where else can you roll into work in an S.U.V. that someone else is driving, stop by the conveniently located barber or private gym down the hall from the office, enjoy reasonably tasty prepared lunch three times a week and amble into hearings and meetings while someone else carries your briefing notes? You get to bypass airport security to catch a flight that someone other than yourself has spent the last hour on the phone securing for you. On the Senate floor there is that deep, aforementioned desk full of candy, which members get to gnaw on while chewing over the latest judicial nominee. And all this for $174,000 per year, plus benefits.

And unlike in the House, individual members of the Senate can still wield enormous power — perhaps not to get things done, but at least to prevent them. Ask Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, who has built an entire Senate career out of single-handedly preventing his colleagues from passing even basic legislation by standing against the unanimous consent rules that grease the wheels of the Senate.

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In 2020, Republicans also face a hard time finding top-tier candidates for the Senate. The party so far hasn’t lured Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire to run against Senator Jeanne Shaheen; President Trump has talked up his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, but he is not precisely Everett Dirksen. Even in open Republican seats, the interest is minimal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has so far remained unconvinced that the seat in Kansas of Pat Roberts, who is retiring, would be a better gig than his current one. That has left Republicans contending with conservative-gadfly-turned-perpetual candidate Kris Kobach, who last year did the impossible, losing the Kansas governorship to a Democrat.

For Democrats, this is a high-stakes exercise. To retake control of the Senate, Democrats will need to pick up either three or four seats in 2020, depending on which party wins the White House. There are currently 34 Senate seats up for grabs, 22 of them held by Republicans. In every imaginable scenario — President Trump wins or loses, Democrats hold the House or lose it — taking back the Senate would be a boon for the party and its policy agenda, even if that is simply stopping Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate majority leader, from continuing to reshape the entire American judiciary.

“The two most important things about running for the Senate and winning, far more important than any others, are the Supreme Court and closing Mitch McConnell’s legislative graveyard,” said Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader.

Democrats are quick to point out that the party has attracted strong contenders already for a few races.

The Speaker of the House in Maine, Sara Gideon, will take on Senator Susan Collins, the Republican from that state. Mark Kelly, the former astronaut and gun control advocate, is running against Senator Martha McSally in Arizona, who was appointed last year to fill Senator John McCain’s seat; Ms. McSally has already lost once to Senator Kyrsten Sinema, the Arizona Democratic freshman. Setting up a bit of farm-kid-on-farm-kid electoral violence, there is also Theresa Greenfield, a businesswoman, who is taking on Senator Joni Ernst, Republican of Iowa.

For some Democrats, the fact that Ben Ray Luján gave up a top House leadership post to run for a Senate seat in New Mexico (albeit a relatively safe one) is further evidence that the Senate is still considered awesome. And, again, Mr. Hickenlooper is considering it.

But Democrats know that their only shot at unseating Senator Steve Daines, the Montana Republican, likely lies in Mr. Bullock, and Mr. Hickenlooper is by far and away their best chance at picking off Senator Cory Gardner in Colorado, a swing state. Georgia and North Carolina both lack high velocity candidates.

Texas is a long shot for their party, but with the continued purple hue growing in various parts of the state — and Mr. O’Rourke’s increasing higher profile from his response to the crisis at the border and a mass shooting in El Paso — he would seem to have the best chance of anyone who would dare take on Senator John Cornyn. (Their current candidate, M.J. Hegar, an Air Force veteran who sued the government to lift the ban on women flying combat missions, lost a House campaign last year.)

If Mr. O’Rourke and Ms. Abrams fear that losing twice in statewide races would taint their future political careers, history shows that such losses have seldom daunted politicians who make multiple runs at the White House.

Still, the personal choice of what, when and where to run seems to perpetually vex everyone who has served in public life.

“In general,” said former Senator Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, whose comeback bid to return to the Senate fell short in 2012, “all of us who have made decisions about becoming candidates are just a little more delusional than people like you who have to understand what we are doing and why we are doing it.”

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