“I think Beto’s really having a hard time making a decision, and he’s surprised at how hard it is,” said Garry Mauro, the last Democrat to be elected statewide in Texas (in 1994, as land commissioner) and someone who’s been in touch with O’Rourke recently.

There has been no official contact, but Mauro said O’Rourke is clearly registering how excited people remain about him, and he and his team are aware of Draft Beto. “I don’t think for one second that the Draft Beto movement is going unnoticed and doesn’t have impact. Of course it does. How could it not?”

Read: What Beto won

O’Rourke didn’t respond to a phone call or questions sent by text about what he makes of Draft Beto and whether the group’s existence is indeed informing his decision. He’s on a road trip, by himself, eating blackberry cobbler and crashing in motels, having conversations, and then posting Bukowski-style essays about what he sees.

“Have been stuck lately. In and out of a funk. My last day of work was January 2nd,” he wrote on Medium on Wednesday. “It’s been more than twenty years since I was last not working. Maybe if I get moving, on the road, meet people, learn about what’s going on where they live, have some adventure, go where I don’t know and I’m not known, it’ll clear my head, reset, I’ll think new thoughts, break out of the loops I’ve been stuck in.”

For someone who became a national sensation speaking off-the-cuff and from the heart, O’Rourke has become an enigma in the past two months. According to several people he’s been in contact with, he’ll write long, philosophical text messages to people he knows well, but others who reach out pushing him to run get elusive text messages that are noncommittal but friendly and make reference to decisions that lie ahead.

Read: Beto O’Rourke and the new Democratic purity test

That’s more contact than Nate Lerner ever had with O’Rourke—and he isn’t talking to him these days. Lerner came up with the concept for Draft Beto in late November, feeling like O’Rourke was the only solution to the country’s disenchantment with politics. He was an Obama 2012 reelection-campaign field organizer in Pennsylvania and now runs the Build the Wave PAC, which raises money and support for candidates by sending out mass text messages. He started reaching out to people he knew about Draft Beto, building a network of support and attention. It’s gotten big enough already that many people mistake Draft Beto for part of O’Rourke’s operation directly and misinterpret every utterance from the group as a window into his thinking.

That, Lerner says, is the point.

“It’s more to show him that that energy’s there and that it’s real, and also to keep him in the news and to keep his supporters engaged, provide an outlet for him,” Lerner said.

This week, Draft Beto branched out with an expanded list of experienced operatives around the country, and more are expected to be named in the coming days. With a big Democratic field taking shape for the 2020 election, experienced operatives are in high demand. It’s notable that so many are willing to sign on with Draft Beto when they could be taking paying jobs with candidates who are actually running.