Participating in an interview for at least one feature story in any of a few large national magazines that are followed by political junkies2;

Making at least one campaign appearance — outside of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — for his or her party’s candidates for governor or U.S. Senate;

Releasing a book in the time between the 2012 elections and the 2014 midterms or reaching an agreement to write a book that would be released during the campaign cycle;

Being included in at least one early national poll of the race that was conducted by either media outlets or polling companies.3