Nominating state officials for the 2020 nomination, and sort of a key nuance that the vice president s statement really just sort of ignored here is that the article doesn t say that vice president pence is planning to run for president in 2020. what it says is that if president trump for some reason does not run, or for whatever reason chooses not to run, vice president pence is doing what any kind of republican leader would do, build up a national portfolio further and get ready. the inference is, kind of like the backup plan. and while it may seem a little early to campaign or state a claim of the next race, in this new york times report it says members of the republican party have begun shadow campaigns for 2020, and, a., would that be very unusual at this juncture to have shadow campaigning, or in-step with a very unpredictable administration