From the Des Moines Register:

At least a half-dozen possible presidential campaign staffs have begun taking shape in Iowa, more than a year and a half before Iowans launch the 2008 nominating season and despite no formal announcements by any of the many White House prospects.

Although would-be candidates began tagging Iowa soil within months of the 2004 election, their political action committees have hired advisers and operatives in the lead-off caucus state, the clearest sign of how competitive the 2008 nominating campaigns are expected to be.

“It’s interesting how truly early this has started,” said David Kochel, an Iowa strategist helping Republican Mitt Romney, Massachusetts’ governor and a possible candidate for president. “There’s a good context for everyone to be here. It benefits the party to have interest in these potential candidates, and it’s meaningful and helpful to races in Iowa.”

Romney and fellow Republican Govs. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and George Pataki of New York have at least three staff members each working to organize their activities in Iowa. Republican John McCain’s committee also has at least one staffer in Iowa, giving new evidence to the notion that the Arizona senator has rethought his 2000 campaign strategy of bypassing Iowa.