Campaign Reflections (ii)

The woman on the phone at the HCDEC headquarters turned out to be the right-hand man (so to speak) of Spencer, the main Kerry guy who had been sent down by the Democrats. Not that there were really any official roles established! In fact, the only people on the scene at all at this early date turned out to be Spencer, Andrea, and Sara, and Spencer was the only person getting paid anything.

Looking back, Andrea was a real hero of the campaign. She worked both hard and effectively, and she was captivating to boot--which probably helped in the "work effectively" arena. She was one of the few folks in the early going with any real-world job experience--as a professional recruiter, no less--and she single-handedly carried the "Kerry House Meeting" thread of the campaign for the Tampa area.

I spent about an hour talking with her, and what I will never forget is that Andrea made me feel like she really cared about my opinions and my motivations for wanting to get involved. I assure you that it was difficult for me to convey that feeling to certain unnamed volunteers later that fall, as the higher-level aspects of the campaign were shoved further and further aside by the urgency of our day-to-day logistics.

From that day forward, I began coming into the campaign office on most of my off days from NI, which meant Mondays, Fridays, and Thursday afternoons. Other people I met early on were Spencer (with whom I had briefly spoken at the DEC meeting earlier), Sara Lonardo, and a guy named David Geller. Sara was a Yankee like me, not yet 21 years old and interning with the campaign in between semesters at Wheaton College. David was a few years older, slightly nervous, and wore numerous hats for the DEC (the local Democrats), including the "tech guy" hat that I seemed likely to put on myself at some point.

As I would gradually learn, part of David's nervousness was probably driven by the incredible tension that existed between the Kerry Campaign crew, who were led by Spencer, and the local Democrats, who were chaired by a woman named Janee Murphy. I didn't catch on to much of it right away, but there was already a resource struggle smoldering away between the two groups. At one level, the struggle was apparent when a total of 8-10 people from both camps would periodically be working out of an office that was meant for 3 or 4, tops. On a more direct front, I was treated to the occasional odd lecture from Janee about how Spencer's gang would be gone in November and how I should really focus my energies with her group instead.

Perhaps this tension helped spur me to make a philosophical decision early on: I would do all of my work on a strictly volunteer basis--no payment for anything. That way, I could make my own decisions about where to spend my time and energy. I chose Spencer's team, and over the course of the next five months, my feelings toward the DEC leadership changed from bemusement to irritation, and ultimately to rage!

- posted by John @ 10:21 PM