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Call it the "non-campaign campaign."

That's the term one GOP strategist who worked for Mitt Romney four years ago used to describe the current Republican presidential primary, at least in contrast to the 2008 nominating fight.

Leading candidates are holding far fewer events than their counterparts did last time around. They seldom take questions from the press. They’re just starting to take aim at each other (though few are landing punches). TV ads are just now  beginning to trickle out; in fact, most of the campaigns haven’t started an advertising push yet -- nor have their “super PACs.” Ten weeks from the start of voting, it just feels different than it did before. There’s less camaraderie, less pushing from the press and less day-to-day maneuvering.

Veteran GOP strategist Rob Collins thinks the intensity will come in time. Still, he said, “I am curious why there is no real campaign feel to this yet. Maybe I'm just an anxious Nellie, but it seems like we are still in a June time frame as opposed to almost November.”

Another Republican operative lamented, “This cycle is proceeding at half-time speed. If the campaigns were moving at 100 miles per hour at this point in the last cycle, they’re moving at just 50 miles per hour this time.” He added, “This is going to be decided in two or three months, but you’d hardly know it. It doesn’t feel like these candidates have campaigned all that hard.”

In noting the lesser intensity this time out, New Hampshire Republican strategist Jamie Burnett said that “it was a far more competitive and energetic race between Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain in New Hampshire at this stage in 2007. Perhaps it's also due to the fact that four years ago, both Democrats and Republicans were competing in New Hampshire, which created more interest and more activism at every corner of the state. The 2008 primary process also began in 2006, much earlier than this time around.”

To be sure, the tone and tenor of this election cycle are worlds apart from what enveloped the 2008 election. Indeed, only one party is holding a primary. And the candidates are not offering themselves as the next best hope for an open White House; rather, all are bashing the current occupant and trying to explain why they’re the most able to knock him off.

In light of that, it isn’t surprising that the campaign is more depressed; what is alarming is that it’s so lackluster. Given all the urgency bubbling up about how President Obama must be replaced, and fast -- combined with the candidates’ deep-seated belief that he is beatable -- one wonders: What gives?

It may be a combination of factors, according to a handful of leading Republican strategists contacted by RealClearPolitics. The race started late, and debates have been on an accelerated schedule. As the perpetual front-runner, Romney has set the pace.

Asked to compare the last election to the current one in terms of this new dynamic, Romney Deputy Campaign Manager Katie Gage said, "It's different. But it's more strategic. We don't have to introduce him as much because people know him."

As for the field generally, Gage explained, "The leading candidates tend to be like a pace car." She said that four years ago, Romney and the others tended to follow early front-runner John McCain's lead, and he held a large number of events.

Gage added that this cycle’s candidates, despite entering the fray late, still have to raise the same amount of money -- and that takes time away from other campaign activities.