there is still a month before the 2016 presidential election, and already there are signs ambitious republicans are planting seeds to seek the white house<u+00a0>in four years in case the current nominee, donald trump, falls short. arkansas sen. tom cotton begins a four-day, eight-stop tour across iowa on saturday, an itinerary raising eyebrows even in a state used to attention long before presidential campaigns begin. mr. cotton is hardly the only upwardly mobile republican staking a claim on the likely early contests of the next presidential campaign. wisconsin gov. scott walker spoke at a fundraiser for iowa state senate republicans last week in dubuque<u+2014>the same night mr. trump was stumping in his home state. south carolina gov. nikki haley was scheduled to campaign in new hampshire for gop gubernatorial candidate chris sununu on thursday<u+00a0>before canceling the trip because of hurricane matthew . ohio gov. john kasich, who lost to mr. trump in this year<u+2019>s gop primary, stumped for mr. sununu last month, and mr. walker is to do so next week. mr. cotton<u+2019>s iowa visit, which doesn<u+2019>t include any appearances for mr. trump<u+2019>s campaign, is widely seen as a sign the 39-year-old senator is exploring a 2020 bid. <u+201c>whenever someone is in iowa, you always want to look and see in the years to come, it probably means they are eyeing something out,<u+201d> said roby smith, a republican from davenport who serves in the iowa senate. <u+201c>someone that comes in, especially this early, is someone who probably will be back<u+00a0>in four years.<u+201d> zach nunn, a republican in the iowa state house from<u+00a0>bondurant, said that if mr. trump is defeated by democratic nominee hillary clinton, <u+201c>it will be a very aggressive four years heading into the next election.<u+201d> mr. cotton, the<u+00a0>youngest member of the u.s. senate, is scheduled to speak at fundraising dinners for the state gop in des moines<u+00a0>on saturday<u+00a0>and for the scott county gop in davenport<u+00a0>on tuesday. in between, he plans to appear with sen. chuck grassley and rep. david young, appear at separate fundraisers for state senate candidates in eastern and western iowa, and tour a business and sit in on a newspaper interview with a third state senate candidate near cedar rapids. for a u.s. senator who raised $14 million for his 2014 race, the entry fees to mr. cotton<u+2019>s iowa events are relatively small. tickets for his<u+00a0>monday<u+00a0>afternoon fundraiser for state senate candidate dan dawson in council bluffs are $30. the scott county event<u+00a0>tuesday<u+00a0>costs $50 to attend. scott county gop chairwoman judy davidson said she has sold about 470 tickets<u+2014>about the same amount as for last year<u+2019>s dinner, which featured then-presidential candidate jeb bush. <u+201c>he<u+2019>s a new and upcoming rising star in the republican party,<u+201d> scott county gop chairwoman judy davidson said of mr. cotton. mr. cotton said he was invited to speak at the party dinners this summer and asked state gop chairman jeff kaufmann and mr. grassley how he could be helpful for the state<u+2019>s down-ballot candidates during the days in between them.he isn<u+2019>t doing any surrogate events for mr. trump, mr. cotton said, because <u+201c>the campaign didn<u+2019>t ask me to.<u+201d> mr. cotton said he didn<u+2019>t offer his time to the trump campaign but stressed he would be speaking about the importance of electing mr. trump at the fundraising dinners. <u+201c>iowa is a crossroads,<u+201d> mr. cotton said. <u+201c>if donald trump can win iowa<u+2019>s six electoral votes, that puts him on a much better path toward 270.<u+201d> in 2012, a parade of ambitious republicans, including 2016 candidate bobby jindal, trekked to iowa to stump for nominee mitt romney. mrs. clinton<u+2019>s primary rival, bernie sanders, campaigned for the nominee in des moines<u+00a0>on wednesday. it isn<u+2019>t unprecedented for a presidential campaign to start in iowa before the previous one ends. mr. romney spoke at a state gop fundraising dinner in october 2004 before launching his 2008 campaign. former maryland gov. martin o<u+2019>malley appeared at then-sen. tom harkin <u+2019>s annual steak fry in september 2012; he dropped out of the 2016 democratic primary race in february after performing poorly in the iowa caucus. this april, nebraska gop sen. ben sasse, who has refused to back mr. trump , spoke to a polk county gop dinner in des moines. but the breadth of mr. cotton<u+2019>s four-day visit has surprised iowa<u+2019>s political class. <u+201c>all the 2020 talk is really premature,<u+201d> said craig robinson, a former political director of the iowa republican party. <u+201c>i don<u+2019>t know one single iowan who is in that mind-set.<u+201d> write to reid j. epstein at reid.epstein@wsj.com
activity in iowa suggests gop hopefuls are already eyeing 2020      - wsj
reid j. epstein