"Here in New Hampshire, the 2020 cycle has already begun," said Wayne Lesperance, the Dean of Undergraduate Programs and political science professor at New England College, in between events with O’Malley and Kasich.

Activity is increasing so quickly "because of the absolute craziness that's going on in D.C.," said state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, a longtime figurehead in the state's Democratic politics. "As a result, things will perk earlier."

At this stage, there are the public events — with national politicians unafraid more than a year and a half before the primary season begins to touch down and engage with residents in front of the cameras. But there's also a silent maneuvering of candidates trying to knit together what could eventually turn into a coalition of organization and support.

"The day after a November election, there is stuff going on in New Hampshire," said Neil Levesque, the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. "People are constantly reaching out to activists. There is sort of a low-level campaign always going on, and I think that's the case up until about February of this year when it started heating up."

"They pass through and they say hello," said D'Allesandro about some of the possible candidates. "No one admits that they're running. But I think there's a lot of noise and a lot of movement."

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Former longtime New Hampshire Democratic political aide Judy Reardon pointed out that lawmakers like Merkley (the only sitting senator to endorse Bernie Sanders in 2016) met with people and made phone calls, "but did not put it in the framework of, 'I'm running for president.'"

An aide to Merkley acknowledged that, like many of his Senate colleagues, the senator is keeping his options open for 2020, and has met with a number of activists in early-voting states to talk about Democratic politics and voting rights issues, including a meeting with some of Bernie Sanders' top New Hampshire supporters.

Levesque added that conversations between potential candidates, their teams and people on the ground in New Hampshire have been ongoing, regardless of whether the politician has necessarily stepped foot in the state just yet.

"You have your key activists, most of whom keep secrets," he said. "They're not going to go and tell you that so-and-so has been calling them from another state, but they definitely are."

"It is very important at this stage to get some of those key activists and people involved — key lawmakers, people who have constituencies here in the state," he continued. "So when candidates come in this early and they start to do that, it's good for them in the long run."

Political operatives and state lawmakers, particularly on the Democratic side, are already surveying their options of whom they might be able to get behind. The first real campaign of New Hampshire is perhaps the competition to woo potential staffers who could eventually sign on to work for a campaign.

"There's two groups who are being courted," said Lesperance. "The state legislators, the folks who are influential with voters, and then the operatives." He said this is the time "where you try to convince those leaders in New Hampshire politics, the operatives, to really take a look and come on board your campaign if that's where you're going to go."