What I learned on a campaign (part 2)

1. Events are created to look spontaneous. The candidate "showing up" to a county fair looks spontaneous and light hearted..... Its really not. Its planned weeks in advance, the vehicle he/she rides in is parked particular places, they have a calculated time to arrive, how long they can stay, and a specific time they have to leave. Staff have specific places they need to be and a certain way they need to look. Most of the time its "Look busy and happy!" And sometimes candidates have specific people they are scheduled to "meet"in the crowd"
2. I know I touched on this before, but yard signs..... I actually HAVE an opinion about YARD SIGNS! How many 18 year olds can say that!? Just that they even have an opinion on them!?
3. You learn to give a good handshake.... and start judging people on their hand shakes.
4. Pizza and Pop is the staple of any campaign diet.
5. Teaching most volunteers to phone bank can be one of the most testing times of your life. It takes an average 20 minutes. Most look at the phone you hand them like you just placed a small alien baby in their hand, then look at the script like its written in klingon! And upon explaining the call process to them, they realize they have to actually do their first phone-call, and return to the previous alien baby look.
6. Volunteers' handwriting is worst that teachers' handwriting! Now thats saying something!
7. Now, I may sound like I'm bashing volunteers, but without them us interns would have sooooo much more work and I love the enthusiasm they all bring, so we treat volunteers like royalty when they walk in. Guess who has to roll out the red carpet and serve them when they get here for their volunteer shift? thats right.... interns :)
8. Interns stick together. We are inseparable and we like to do things in pairs!
9. Choosing whether you hate talking to people over the phone in a windowless room on a gorgeous hot July day more than talking to hungry customers at your fundraising burger booth on a gorgeous hot July day. (The election is over and I still have yet to make that choice!)
10. At any event, political stickers will cover at least 2/3rds of your shirt! Guarantee!
11. Always understand your field organizer understands your pain.... He/She lives it with you. If they can do it one more day so can you.
12. The connections you make now can prove very valuable later!