As the possibility is broached about Alabama Sen. Katie Britt – someday, down the road – running for president, it’s perhaps useful to remember that she has been in Washington less than nine months.

At this time last year, she was just a candidate on a ballot – albeit the foregone conclusion winner of a general election showdown against Democrat Will Boyd and Libertarian John Sophocleus.

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Still, after being in Washington for less than a year, the presidential whispers have started, no one is laughing or rolling their eyes and Britt is not denying that it’s crossed her mind.

In a sprawling, 3,200-word profile of the senator by Politico that published over the weekend, this is how reporter Jonathan Martin described Britt’s response to the prospect of a future presidential campaign:

“Asked if she wants to be president someday, Britt said she was ‘humbled,’ had been ‘underestimated’ much of her life by dint of her small-town, public-school upbringing and a few other lines, none of which included the word ‘no.’”

While the piece does not dwell on the depth of Britt’s presidential aspirations, it does cast a wide spotlight on her political savviness and the positive impressions she has made in less than a year in Washington.

Again from Martin’s profile of Britt: “Whatever the Republican Party does is whatever the Republican Party does, but if they can’t see Katie as a very talented conservative that’s on them,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), who serves with Britt on Appropriations, told me when I asked if her future was in the Senate or a national ticket.

Closer to home, former Alabama Congressman Bradley Byrne offered this perspective to Politico: “I don’t want her to do anything national, selfishly. We desperately need somebody like her in that Senate seat — she’s it for us as far as the Senate goes.”

That leads into another aspect of the Politico story – the unflattering comparisons made to Alabama’s senior senator, Tommy Tuberville.

The first sentence of the story, for instance, describes Britt as “the more consequential GOP Alabama senator.”

The third paragraph of the story poses this question: “Does the future look like Tuberville — light on policy and heavy on performance — or is there a role, and perhaps a leading one, for somebody like Britt?”

While Britt’s a rookie in the Senate, she’s no Washington newcomer. She worked on the staff of her predecessor, Sen. Richard Shelby, eventually rising to become his chief of staff.

While Britt made sure on the campaign trail not to ride any Shelby coattails even as he was a primary benefactor, Britt has forged her own identity already in the Senate and it’s an identity that’s subtly grabbing power.

While not making frequent appearances on cable news shows, Britt’s work off-camera has perhaps been striking. Two of the most influential Republican senators beyond Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have been Britt’s guest at University of Alabama football games this season. Texas Sen. John Cornyn was the keynote speaker at a Britt fundraiser earlier this month, then joined Britt and her husband Wesley (a former All-SEC football player for the Crimson Tide) at the Sept. 13 game against Texas.

And on Saturday, Republican Senate Whip John Thune of South Dakota saw Alabama score its 24-10 win over Ole Miss in Tuscaloosa.

Politico also reported Britt has headlined fundraisers for other Senate colleagues – again, a remarkable achievement for a rookie, as noted by Politico.

“Someday she’ll be running this place,” Thune said of Britt and the Senate in the Politico piece.

“If she aspires to rise through elected leadership, I see a pretty clear path forward,” Cornyn said in the Politico story.

The Politico piece also observed how Britt has avoided the potentially prickly political entanglement of being the only Alabama Republican in Washington yet to endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Britt, in a statement to AL.com in August, cited her pledge to neutrality while serving on the Republican National Committee’s Republican Party Advisory Council — a lofty appointment in itself that occurred before Britt was sworn into office.

“It’s a dodge that senior Republicans find laughable but, as one party official told me, ‘I’m happy for her to get away with it because I want her to be successful,’” the Politico piece said.

Click here to read the full story from Politico.