WASHINGTON — Former President Barack Obama on Tuesday gushed about Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the El Paso Democrat who's being floated as a White House contender after giving Republican Sen. Ted Cruz a surprisingly tough challenge in the midterm election.

"Impressive young man who ran a terrific race in Texas," Obama said in a taping of The Axe Files, a podcast produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

While the former president discussed O'Rourke only at the behest of an audience-submitted question, the mention won't tamp down speculation that the Texan could mount a 2020 presidential bid.

O'Rourke has been the subject of intensifying chatter on that front, thanks to his record-shattering fundraising efforts, a barnstorming campaign that often ignored conventional political wisdom, and the national profile he earned by coming within three percentage points of Cruz.

"What I liked most about his race was that it didn't feel constantly poll-tested," Obama said. "It felt as if he based his statements and his positions on what he believed. And that, you'd like to think, is normally how things work. Sadly it's not."

.@BarackObama on @BetoORourke:

“What I liked most about his race was that it didn’t feel...poll-tested. It felt as if he based his statements and positions on what he believed. That, you’d like to think, is normally how things work. Sadly, it’s not.” https://t.co/6FqN9idg37. — David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 24, 2018

The former president even appeared to compare O'Rourke to himself.

"The reason I was able to make a connection with a sizable portion of the country was because people had a sense that I said what I meant," he said, right after talking up the Texan. "What I oftentimes am looking for first and foremost is, do you seem to mean it?"

The prospect of a presidential campaign by Beto O'Rourke has been the subject of intensifying speculation. (Eric Gay / The Associated Press)

Asked by interviewer David Axelrod, also Obama's former top strategist, if O'Rourke struck him as that kind of person, the former president didn't equivocate.

"Yes," Obama said, before taking a bit broader view. "And I think there are others. ... We've got a number of people who are thinking about the race who fall in that same category."

O'Rourke has been noncommittal about his future since his Senate campaign ended. That means observers are now looking for clues in all of his moves, such as his decision to join with Sen. Elizabeth Warren this week in pressing the Pentagon about troops sent to the U.S.-Mexico border.

If the Texan were to run for president, he would probably have lots of company.

Many Democrats have been teased as possible opponents to President Donald Trump, who has relished the prospect of taking on some of those top contenders and who already blasted O'Rourke during the Senate race as a "flake."

A national campaign by O'Rourke would also highlight his muted relationship with Obama.

The former president didn't endorse O'Rourke's Senate campaign, despite being active in the midterm elections in Texas and other parts of the U.S. O'Rourke last month told the Texas Tribune that he wasn't interested in Obama's endorsement.

"I am so grateful to him for his service; he's going to go down as one of the greatest presidents," he told the Tribune. "And yet, this [election] is on Texas."

When O'Rourke first ran for Congress in 2012 against Democratic Rep. Silvestre Reyes, Obama also endorsed the incumbent in the primary.