Is it just me or this cycle starting off very fast?

[Beet]

The political journals are already filled with stories about potential candidates raising funds and visiting early primary states. People are talking as if the field is already set. I don't remember this much activity in early 2001, 2005 or 2009. The GOP field was extremely unsettled even into 2011... I remember there was talk of Mitch McConnell or Haley Barbour getting in, in late 2010/early 2011. Rick Perry was very much under the radar then. IMO, the campaign doesn't really start until after the mid-terms, and that's already on a very elongated schedule.

[King]

I think the GOP wants to start now because the status quo would lose the House in 2014.  They need to become the new GOP well ahead of 2016.

[Mehmentum]

I'm not complaining, what else would fuel my obsession with politics?

[TDAS04]

I'm not complaining, what else would fuel my obsession with politics?

[Blue3]

Well, there's been no visible momentum on guns or immigration in months, that's still behind the scenes, and there's been no movement on anything else. Boehner is even saying the debt isn't an immediate problem anymore, which makes tax/entitlement reform less likely. With nothing visibly happening in politics right now, of course people are looking to the future.

[Mister Mets]

Well, you do have a lot of political figures with incentives to build a reputation quickly.

Most of the top Republicans (Jeb, Rubio, Jindal, Ryan, Rand Paul) don't have to worry about winning statewide office before the primary, so they can maneuver themselves any way they want.

The Democratic primary will be defined by whether or not Hillary runs, so anything that helps make up her mind now would be a big deal.

Four years ago, Republicans were uncertain of how to publicly respond to a popular incumbent.

Eight years ago, top Republicans (George Allen, Bill Frist, John McCain, Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney) were concerned about the 2006 midterms, where a few of them would be wiped out.

Hillary also had to win reelection convincingly in 2006, and the race was to a great extent defined by her decisions. Obama hadn't started his book tour.

[Joe Biden 2020]

It does seem to be starting very rapidly.  I love it!

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Yeah. It's a pity intrade is gone. I'd love to see their numbers right now.

[Bull Moose Base]

The invisible primary has grown less invisible each cycle and polling and speculation has started earlier.  But there's no particular reason to think the consensus of 2016 speculation will end up any less off than the 2012 speculation.  The assumption that Jindal will run might end up as inaccurate as assumptions Barbour would run.  Or the questions about who will run between Jeb Bush and Rubio (or Ryan and Walker) may end up like the similar speculation about eventual non-candidates Daniels and Barbour (and Daniels and Pence). Rubio's leads in most states (and Christie's in others) might not compel them to get in any more than Huckabee's strong polls in 2009-10. And we'll probably see unexpected candidacies again like we did from Huntsman, Bachmann, Perry.

[pbrower2a]

I think the GOP wants to start now because the status quo would lose the House in 2014.  They need to become the new GOP well ahead of 2016.

The Republican Party will not become the "new" Republican Party until some nationwide drubbings, and not only the Senate in 2016 (where they have 23 up for re-election against 10 Democrats, and have several of their 23 in moderate-to-liberal states). The Republicans will not change until they lose  their Congressional majority and majorities in several state legislatures. They still act as if the 2010 elections are the wave of the future, one in which liberal-leaning people are confused or apathetic.

[Akno21]

I think the GOP wants to start now because the status quo would lose the House in 2014.  They need to become the new GOP well ahead of 2016.

Does the status quo also redistrict before 2014?