Update: My subscription to this website expires on January 22nd. But while I may "go grey" for a bit, I shall return. So don't delete me from your friends list just yet...

So I was screwing around on Facebook earlier, keeping track of the Richardson diaspora, and I found this gem. Maybe you, as an ordinary citizen, won't find this terribly amusing. I, as a campaign staffer, found it hilarious.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A POLITICAL STAFFER WHEN...

• "Indie" is not a form of music
• No one looks at you funny when you sleep at the office
• A perfect boyfriend/girlfriend is someone who can actually put up with your work hours
• You know that perfect person doesn't exist
• You work insane hours for little money
• And you love it
• Your friends visit your office to make sure you're still alive
• Therapy is something you wish you could get for free after the election
• Your "track record" has nothing to do with sports
• Your best friend is your cellphone
• You have thrown your best friend once or twice
• You have played some kind of sport in your office at least once (i.e. baseball, kickball, football, basketball, etc.)
• A reporter or your candidate has walked in on it at least once
• You have come to work when you look like you're about to keel over and die
• And you did it by choice
• Your car doubles as a closet during campaign season because, frankly, you're not quite sure when you'll get home
• You have gone 48 hours plus without sleep
• Your closest friends names' are Jack, Jim, Jose, and Captain Morgan
• You live on coffee and cigarettes (and, in the case of the Richardson campaign, Taco Bell)
• Your desk kind of reminds you of the movie Twister, well after the tornado hit
• You watch either The Daily Show or C-SPAN compulsively
• When your power goes out or your telephone is disconnected, you immediately blame it on the Republicans
• You have encountered at least 3 volunteers whom you are sure escaped from a mental institution
• All your friends say how "professional"...

Update: My subscription to this website expires on January 22nd. But while I may "go grey" for a bit, I shall return. So don't delete me from your friends list just yet...

So I was screwing around on Facebook earlier, keeping track of the Richardson diaspora, and I found this gem. Maybe you, as an ordinary citizen, won't find this terribly amusing. I, as a campaign staffer, found it hilarious.

YOU KNOW YOU'RE A POLITICAL STAFFER WHEN...

• "Indie" is not a form of music
• No one looks at you funny when you sleep at the office
• A perfect boyfriend/girlfriend is someone who can actually put up with your work hours
• You know that perfect person doesn't exist
• You work insane hours for little money
• And you love it
• Your friends visit your office to make sure you're still alive
• Therapy is something you wish you could get for free after the election
• Your "track record" has nothing to do with sports
• Your best friend is your cellphone
• You have thrown your best friend once or twice
• You have played some kind of sport in your office at least once (i.e. baseball, kickball, football, basketball, etc.)
• A reporter or your candidate has walked in on it at least once
• You have come to work when you look like you're about to keel over and die
• And you did it by choice
• Your car doubles as a closet during campaign season because, frankly, you're not quite sure when you'll get home
• You have gone 48 hours plus without sleep
• Your closest friends names' are Jack, Jim, Jose, and Captain Morgan
• You live on coffee and cigarettes (and, in the case of the Richardson campaign, Taco Bell)
• Your desk kind of reminds you of the movie Twister, well after the tornado hit
• You watch either The Daily Show or C-SPAN compulsively
• When your power goes out or your telephone is disconnected, you immediately blame it on the Republicans
• You have encountered at least 3 volunteers whom you are sure escaped from a mental institution
• All your friends say how "professional" you look while you're running around on your cellphone trying to prevent Armageddon
• You can't work another week without getting drunk with your friends at work
• Everyone at work knows about your personal life.. Privacy? What's that?
• You've seen politicians do more odd things than some of your volunteers
• You cringe at the word "phone bank"
• You hate people who will only precinct walk and not make calls
• Stacks of pizza boxes at headquarters is a normal sight
• You steal your friends blackberries and start sending love notes to other staffers
• You don't know how to cope without insane amounts of caffeine
• Carrying more than one phone at a time is totally normal
• You know it's not odd to have someone from senior staff call you at weird times of the day for random projects that must be finished in less than a half hour
• You deal with everyone's panic attacks and meltdowns then go home and deal with your own
• You know your candidate's favorite food, but not your spouse's/significant other's
• You've ever gotten dressed in a gas station bathroom on your way to an event
• A voter has informed you that you've lost his/her support because you mispronounced the name of the backwoods Iowa town s/he lives in
• You've had to learn how to properly pronounce the names of Iowa towns so that you don't make that mistake again (it's not Ne-VAY-dah, not Ne-VAH-dah; MAY-drid, not mah-DRID...)
• You hear "I'll Be Home for Christmas" on the radio and laugh
• You've made at least one campaign stop that involves a country store, a county fair, a pie eating contest, or a prize ham. Possibly all of the above
• You swear that once the primary ends you're never coming back to this cold, miserable, ornery state ever again. But you love it
• You refer to a convention/trip to another state as a vacation
• You race your co-workers at scanning voter contact results into your database
• You have invented C-SPAN drinking games
• If you have clean clothes on, it's a good day
• Your car hasn't been washed in 11 months and you still think it's clean
• You plan major life events (law school, engagements, major family trips) around election cycles
• It's midnight and you've been at work since 9:00 AM
• The date is measured as "Days to Victory" instead of the calendar date, and time is measured in election cycles instead of years
• You spend more time in hotels than you do in your own home