Yes, it’s still early in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, but the field is already splitting into two distinct tiers: There are the candidates and prospective candidates who you already know by shorthand — think Kamala, or Beto, or Biden — and then there are the candidates you might struggle to name without some help.

Case in point: the first Democrat in the race, who’s been running since July 2017.

Recently, this Democrat — no, I’m going to name him just yet! — talked up his bona fides at Robie’s Country Store in Hooksett. It was the sort of scene people imagine when they hear the phrase “New Hampshire primary,” with an earnest candidate detailing their vision for the country as a small crowd of concerned citizens listened attentively.

“I’ve spent my whole life bringing people together,” former Maryland Rep. John Delaney said.

“What we need more than anything, at this moment in time,” he added, “is a president who wants to remind the American people that the beating heart of this nation is this notion of common purpose.

“Your enemy is not your fellow American. Your enemy is a political system that has let you down.”

That particular argument seems tailor-made for the general election. But when Delaney talks about harnessing the aforementioned sense of common purpose, he sounds like a man of the left. For example: “I believe every American should have healthcare as a right. ... We should have addressed climate change decades ago. ... We should have created a public education system where everyone has pre-K as a right.”

Which brings me to my first big John Delaney takeaway: ideologically, he’s tough to peg.

For the record, Delaney calls himself a “pragmatic progressive,” and accuses Republicans and Democrats alike of catering too much to the political margins.

Asked about that claim afterward, Delaney brought up his plan to address climate change, which includes implementing a federal carbon tax and massively increasing funding for green-energy research.

“I went through my climate strategy in there, very detailed, and I laid out exactly how I’ll make that happen.” Delaney said. “A lot of people are talking about climate stuff, but the stuff they’re talking about is never going to happen.”

Asked if that was a reference to the Green New Deal, Delaney didn’t say no.

“I like the energy around the Green New Deal,” Delaney said. “But if you’re actually tying action on climate to action on healthcare, you’re basically saying, ‘Climate’s not important.’ Because if you thought it was important, you’d have a laser-like focus on getting it done.”

Another Delaney takeaway? His biography has bipartisan appeal as well.

“I grew up in New Jersey,” Delaney said in Hooksett. “My dad was … an electrician. Neither of my parents went to college, but that union took pretty good care of us.”

Among other things, Delaney said, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers covered half his college tuition when he went to Columbia — after which he attended law school at Georgetown and co-founded two companies, one of which loaned money to small healthcare providers and one of which loaned to small businesses.

Then, in 2012, Delaney ran successfully for Congress, ousting in a Republican incumbent in a district that had recently been redrawn in a manner favorable to Democrats.

Or, as Delaney put it in Hooksett: “I have lived the American Dream. Blue-collar kid, successful entrepreneur, and the privilege of serving my country. And one reason I’m running for president is to make sure young people have the same opportunities I have.”

Union roots, private-sector success… again, it’s a narrative that seems capable, in theory, of attracting voters who backed Donald Trump in 2016.

Problem is, despite 14 trips to New Hampshire and a whopping 25 visits to Iowa, recent polling puts Delaney at or near zero in both states.

Which brings us to Delaney Takeaway Number Three: he’s a test case in whether relentless grassroots campaigning can still turn an obscure politician into a presidential contender.

“I want the folks in Iowa and New Hampshire to say, that person is what we need — and to send a signal to the rest of the country,” he explained after his visit to Robie’s. “And then it’ll all change.”

That, at least, is John Delaney’s plan.