When Sen. Dean Heller looks at the calendar, he probably can’t believe it’s June 2017.

To the most vulnerable GOP incumbent in the country, the only one running in a state won by Hillary Clinton, it must seem like October 2018. And it seems as if it has been since... January.

Heller has been the relentless focus of Democratic-aligned groups smelling blood, and they have recently intensified the assault on various issues relating to health care.

To wit:

----AARP has a statewide TV campaign.

----Planned Parenthood just extended a TV buy.

----Save My Care (the group dedicated to protecting Obamacare) has a multimedia campaign, including a new radio spot to go with web videos, direct mail and TV. (The group also is going into the field this week with a poll.)

Heller’s recent rhetorical gymnastics on expanding Medicaid have made writing the ads fairly easy. And now he has guaranteed Gov. Brian Sandoval’s words will be used against him next year.

I get the sense that this will be the longest campaign season in history, 600 days of unrelenting ads on various platforms from myriad groups targeting Heller. The senior senator, of course, has looked like a political corpse before -- he was elected to Congress in 2006 after barely winning a primary and won election to the Senate by 12,000 votes in 2012 despite Barack Obama winning the state by 6 points.

Democrats are hoping that as they continue to soften up Heller, someone, anyone (paging Rep. Jacky Rosen or Rep. Dina Titus or ex-Treasurer Kate Marshall) will decide to run. Someone inevitably will file early next year. From now until then and afterwards, it will seem like... October 2018.