Advertisement NH Primary Source: Get ready for 2020 first-in-nation primary campaign to begin Share Shares Copy Link Copy

HERE THEY COME. It’s like clockwork. Every midterm election year, the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary campaign gets underway – informally if not officially – and 2018 will be no exception, as candidates stop by to help New Hampshire candidates while also beginning to build support for themselves, just in case they decide to run in 2020.In 2017, New Hampshire saw occasional visits by the lone declared Democratic president candidate, U.S. Rep. John Delaney, and several potential candidates – including former Missouri Secretary of State and voting rights activist Jason Kander, Ohio U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, as well as former Vice President Joe Biden and 2016 presidential hopeful and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.But the flow will certainly pick up after Jan. 1, with visits from Delaney and Kander expected early in the year. Delaney will make his fifth visit to the state since declaring Jan. 14 and stay though Jan. 16, with details to be announced. Kander will be in the state to open the Manchester office of the voting rights group he heads, Let America Vote, with a date still to be set. As we reported in August, New Hampshire is one of five states that will host the group’s field offices.At the New Hampshire Institute of Politics, Executive Director Neil Levesque said he and his staff are entertaining inquiries from the camps of potential presidential candidates “on both side of the aisle.”“They are expressing interest in the kind of formats that we provide, whether it’s a book event or another type of format,” he said.“They’re touching base and asking what’s happening,” Levesque added. “I think that starting in February, you’re going to see what we’ve seen in the past. All of a sudden we’re there, events will be starting to be held and (the media) will be there.”Levesque said he expects potential 2020 Republican challengers to President Donald Trump to test the proverbial waters because of Trump’s low approval ratings, as well as “some fatigue, and the fact that there is potentially a legal issue out there with the (Robert) Mueller investigation.” “It’s a weakness, and when there is a perception of a weakness, there is a perception of a hole to be filled,” he said. “And on the Democratic side, there are so many potential candidates that no one has ever heard of that it reminds me of Jimmy Carter in 1976.”