First time you've heard of/read about 2020 candidates (excluding early exits)

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

By "early exits" I mean those who drooped out before Iowa.

Democrats:

Biden: late 2002, when they showed him on TV, sucking up to Bush in a leadup to the Iraqi invasion.

Sanders: sometime in 2005, from the wiki.

Buttigieg: mid-2019, from our friend Casey's facebook wall.

Warren: from a forum timeline in the late 2009, which we all dismissed as joke, and which turned to be semi-prophetic.

Klobuchar: 2006 Senate race.

Bloomberg: After he won 2001 mayoral race.

Tulsi: 2012 House race.

Yang: late 2019, probably from the forum.

Bennet: upon his appointment as Senator in 2009.

Steyer: late 2019, from the forum.

Patrick: 2006 gubernatorial race.

Williamson: dunno, probably from the forum.

GOP:

Trump: around 2001, can't remember from where, but definitively in "Trump the rich guy with weird hair" context.

Weld: from the wiki, around 2005.

Walsh: dunno.

Rocky: 2012 election.

[HillGoose]

Trump: sometime in 2010.

Biden: probably 2008 but who knows

Sanders: probably like 2011 or so

Buttigieg: yeah probably early-mid 2019

Warren: I think Time did a story on her back in like 2010, 2011ish, so that was it.

Klobuchar: 2018 sometime

Bloomberg: Early 2011 I think.

Tulsi: 2016 at some point

no idea on the others.

I will make the disclaimer that my memory doesn't really go back to before April/May of 2010.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Democrats:
Biden: not sure, probably around 2002 when I started seriously following national politics.

Sanders: Same as the only independent member of the House.

Buttigieg: His DNC chair run in 2018

Warren: When Obama nominated her for CFPB chair.

Klobuchar: 2004 when she was Hennepin County attorney.

Bloomberg: 2001 after he was elected mayor

Tulsi: after her 2012 House election

Yang: when he announced his campaign so 2019

Bennet: upon his appointment in 2009.

Steyer: when he started that impeach Trump campaign in 2017.

Patrick: 2006 when he ran for Governor

Williamson: when she announced her campaign.

GOP:
Trump: When I saw Home Alone 2 so 1992.

Weld: When Bill Clinton nominated him as ambassador to Mexico so 1997.

Walsh: 2010 after his election to House.

Rocky: his 2012 campiagn.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Trump: When I saw Home Alone 2 so 1992.

I saw Home Alone 2 way before 2001, but had no idea who that guy was at the time.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Trump: Being from Palm Beach County, Trump has been a fixture in local news my entire life. I recall my dad explaining to me who Trump was either during the fight with the county over Mar-A-Lago's massive American flag....or maybe that was during his war with Rosie O'Donnell. I can't remember which came first.

Weld: 2011ish, when playing President Forever 2008's scenario for 1996, in which he was a potential candidate.

Walsh: His douchebag stint in Congress. Never more than an obnoxious backbencher halfwit.

Biden: 2007, during his presidential campaign. I remember my late grandma, who was partisan as any Republican you've ever met, reluctantly admitting that he was the least bad of the candidates running in that primary.

Sanders: 2009-2010ish, when he was an infrequent target of meme's that my grandma's employee used to email out at the peak of Tea Party fever.

Warren: CFPB. I remember she had a weird pointy triangle looking haircut at the time.

Klobuchar: 2009ish I guess? I'm sure I saw her on TV but I can't remember when or where that was.

Bloomberg: 2009 when he won a third term.

Tulsi: I distinctly remember this one. She had just won her congressional primary and I was sitting in our campaign office down here in FL-22 browsing Atlas on the computer while I tied door-hangers together to be used later. We must have made like 10,000 that day. Good times. Everyone thought she was hot.

Yang: 2017 when he surfaced on Wikipedia's 2020 candidates list.

Bennett: 2009ish.

Steyer: Never heard of him at all until this cycle. Can't remember when I first heard of him, but it'd have been 2018-2019ish I guess. Probably 2018.

Patrick: IIRC I watched him at the Democratic convention in 2008.

Williamson: See Yang.

[GeneralMacArthur]

Biden:  2007
Sanders:  I was aware of him as the only independent in the Senate as early as 2006 but didn't know who he actually was until 2015.
Buttigieg:  DNC chair race in 2017
Warren:  Was aware of her in 2010
Klobuchar:  Similar to Sanders, was aware of her generically as a senator but prior to her presidential run I had heard her speak maybe once.
Bloomberg:  2001
Gabbard:  Had no idea who she was until the 2015 drama
Yang:  whenever he entered the race
Bennet:  See Klobuchar
Steyer:  2018 with his Need To Impeach campaign
Patrick:  I still don't know who this person is
Williamson:  whenever she entered the race

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

Democrats:

Biden: 2008, when Obama picked him as his veep. (EDIT: Actually, probably saw his 2004 DNC speech but forgot about it)

Sanders: 2006, I think.  Having the first Independent democratic-socialist senator was pretty big news.

Buttigieg: 2017, when he ran for DNC Chair.

Warren: 2011 or 2012, when she was tapped to run against Scott Brown.

Klobuchar: 2009, probably watched a floor speech of hers.

Bloomberg: Not sure, probably early-2000s.

Tulsi: 2012 House race.

Yang: 2019, when he announced his candidacy.

Bennet: 2009.  I remember the Obama/Clinton proxy primary between him and Romanoff.

Steyer: 2017, when he started his Need To Impeach movement.

Patrick: Probably the 2008 Democratic Convention.

Williamson: 2019, when she announced her candidacy.

GOP:

Trump: 2004, when The Apprentice started.

Weld: Probably around 2009 or so.

Walsh: 2010 and his godawful stint as a congressman.

Rocky: 2012 election.

[Green Line]

Are people just making educated guesses here, or should I actually remember this?  I couldn't tell you a single one, but maybe thats because I have a bad memory (wine induced probably).

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Biden: 2008, when Obama was vetting him for VP

Sanders: 2013, from my high school French teacher

Buttigieg: 2016, from a classmate

Warren: 2012, during the 2012 Senate election (I didn't really have a solid impression of her until 2014 or so)

Klobuchar: no idea

Bloomberg: 2013, after Sandy Hook

Tulsi: 2016, when the Bernie people were promoting her for VP

Yang: 2017, after he announced his campaign

Bennet: no idea

Steyer: 2019, after one of the early debates

Patrick: 2014, when he ran for re-election

Williamson: 2019, after she announced her campaign

Trump: 2012, when he was talking about running for president

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

Biden: Some point early in Dubya's second term, probably in the context of some "gang of [insert number of senators here]" or other.

Sanders: I lived in Vermont as a kid, so, like Sanchez with Trump, he was a local fixture whom I've more or less "always" known about.

Buttigieg: His DNC Chair campaign in 2017.

Warren: Some point in the TARP/CFPB stage of her career, so 2009ish.

Klobuchar: Also 2009ish, probably in the context of normal Senate business.

Bloomberg: Not sure. Some point during his mayorship.

Gabbard: When she was first elected to the House in 2012.

Yang: Some point in 2017 or 2018 after he'd announced but before almost anybody else had.

Bennet: When he was first appointed to the Senate in 2009.

Steyer: During a brief period when there was "buzz" for him on Atlas in 2017.

Patrick: Some point early in his first term as Governor.

Williamson: When she announced.

Trump: First saw him in Home Alone 2 as a child, first had context for who he was when The Apprentice started.

Weld: Not sure, probably around 2010 or so when I was first learning more about Massachusetts political history.

Walsh: His horrendous term in the House.

Rocky: His 2016 run.

[Gracile]

Biden: 2007/2008 during his first presidential run.
Sanders: 2006/2007ish because of being the only independent in the House/Senate.
Buttigieg: Early 2017 during his DNC run.
Warren: I heard about her from someone else who mentioned her by name some time in the early 2010s.
Klobuchar: After she got elected to the Senate.
Bloomberg: 2000s when he was mayor of NYC.
Tulsi: 2016? Maybe earlier. I first knew her as a prominent figure when she endorsed Sanders.
Yang: Like a year ago.
Bennet: 2009 when he got appointed to the Senate.
Steyer: Two years ago when I saw one of his impeachment ads.
Patrick: After he got elected as governor of Massachusetts.
Williamson: Like a year ago when she actually ran for President.

Trump: Early 2000s as a public figure and reality TV personality on The Apprentice.
Weld: A few years ago, not sure how I exactly became aware of him.
Walsh: 2010, his House campaign got a lot of publicity here in IL.
De La Fuente: The 2018 midterm elections when he was on the ballot in like every Senate primary.

[OSR stands with Israel]

GOP:

Trump : In 2004 when my parents used to watch the Apprentice
Weld: When he was named VP in 2016
Walsh:  When he announced his presidential Bid


Dems:

Biden: 2008 when Obama selected him for VP
Sanders: 2014 when I first saw there was a socialist in the senate
Buttigieg: Sometime in 2018 when I first started reading Parrotguy's Mayor Pete TL
Warren: 2013 when I overheard a pretty liberal family member of mine talk about Warren as someone who they hopes run and started talking about why(For those curious they are Bernie 2016-Biden 2020 supporters)
Bloomberg: In 2012 when he proposed banning large sodas
Tulsi: In 2014 when I found out she was the only Hindu-American in Congress
Yang: When he first started running for President
Bennet: 2015 when I started paying attention to senate races in 2016 which I thought were gonna be important
Steyer: 2014 when I found out how he is one of the biggest Dem Donors
Patrick: 2015 when there were rumors that he would run for President
Williamson: When she first started running for President

[Anti Democrat Democrat Club]

Democrats:

Biden: 2008, when he first ran

Sanders: 2009, as a 14-year-old Redditor

Warren: 2011, on the news

Buttigieg: I'm not sure. I want to say at the latest, 2017, although I vaguely remember hearing about him before then

Klobuchar: 2010, from Reddit

Bloomberg: I guess 2006-2008 too? From the news?

Gabbard: 2012, while running for the House

Yang: 2019, from here

Bennet: 2009, when he got appointed

Steyer: 2015-ish? From some report

Patrick: 2005, governor's race

Williamson: 2019, from here

Trump: 2003, from The Apprentice

Weld: 2012-ish? From my parents

Walsh: 2011, when he won

De La Fuente: 2012, while I was canvassing

Hawkins: 2014, I supported him when he challenged Cuomo