One of the most significant developments in the emerging Democratic presidential race is how Democrat Beto O’Rourke appears to be dipping his toes in the 2020 waters – and we’re not talking about a ‘20 Senate bid against Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Consider what we’ve learned about O’Rourke in the past week:

• He met with Barack Obama in November, as the Washington Post reported.
• He's speaking with Mindy Myers, who was Elizabeth Warren's campaign manager in 2012 and who ran the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee this past cycle.
• And he met with Al Sharpton and had a call with Andrew Gillum, as NBC's Garrett Haake and Mike Memoli write. "One source, granted anonymity to describe a private conversation, said [O'Rourke and Gillum] discussed their mutual preference that someone 'young and unapologetically progressive' lead the Democratic Party going forward."

So yeah, Beto exploring a possible presidential bid is starting to look very real for 2020.

And maybe more than that, whether he runs or not appears to have frozen the Dem field, especially when it comes to staffing.

Think about that: O’Rourke’s decision on 2020 might be the biggest shoe to drop on the Dem field.