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

Well, well, well. No updates since last summer. When y'all last heard from me, I was mooching a bedroom at a friend's house on the west side of Spartanburg, driving a 1998 Oldsmobile Eighty-Eight with major cooling-system issues, and working at a gas station while moonlighting as a field organizer for a Presidential campaign....

It's amazing how much your life can change in six short months.

Well, first things first. I got a new car (well, not exactly "new"...it's a new-to-me 2006 Ford Taurus) that I'm going to be paying on for the next five years. Yay, finance charges!

I also moved back into a place of my own. Well, ok, not "my own," exactly...I'm living with three other people. But it's a spacious three-bedroom townhouse in a quiet neighbourhood on the east side of town, so we're not exactly tripping over each other. My roommates? Gina (of course), Richard (yes, THAT Richard...my old roommate from USC Upstate), and Zach (a friend-of-a-friend with whom I took a few classes at Upstate.) But I don't know how long we'll be here. We're on a lease that runs through next August, BUT...our landlord is also trying to sell this place and has asked us if we'd mind moving out early if she sells it.

Which may not be a bad idea...

See, the Bill Richardson for President campaign transferred me to Iowa for the last two months of the race there. It was probably the hardest job I've ever held. It was the only position I've ever had where I could spend fifteen hours a day at the office and still feel like I didn't have enough time to accomplish everything I needed to do. But it was also the most rewarding job I've ever held. I learned volumes about how a campaign SHOULD be run and met some of the most wonderful people I've ever known in the process. No, the results on caucus night weren't even close to what we were hoping for, but, oh, well. I'm still proud of everything we did accomplish. We forced all the "major" candidates to talk about the issues that were important to us and to take positions on them that they never would have otherwise. From our aggressive energy and environmental policies to our hard line on the Iraq war to scrapping "No Child Left Behind" to overturning the PATRIOT Act, our platform was easily the most plagiarized in recent history. Don't be surprised when Governor Richardson ends up with a cabinet post when the Democrats take back the White House.

And on a personal front...thanks to my association with this campaign, I now know half the state government of New Mexico. This is already beginning to pay dividends. See, one of my "roadrunners" (our out-of-state volunteers) was a well-connected state representative from Las Cruces. After I explained to her my education situation, she made some phone calls and not only got me admitted to New Mexico State University this fall, but also got me a job with a U.S. Senate campaign as soon as I get there. And that's not all...one of my other contacts within the Richardson campaign has notified me regarding a two-year energy/climate fellowship opportunity with the National Resources Defense Council in New Mexico. I haven't heard back about that yet, but at this point I can safely say that all signs are pointing towards one conclusion:

Go west, young man!

So....there you have it. I'm currently broke and unemployed (again), but that won't last long. My only mission now is to get back to work and raise the money it's going to take to move cross-country.

And, in all honesty, I don't know how much longer I'm going to be kicking around this website. To be sure, it's still fun (and still relatively spam-free compared to MySpace and Facebook), but I don't know if I have the time and money to devote to being on here nearly as much as I once was. We'll see how things stand when my current subscription runs out whether or not I return.

Regardless, I've made some great friends here and it'd be a shame to lose 'em all entirely, so stay tuned....

As most of you are likely well aware, a Democratic Presidential debate was held in Charleston, SC this Monday. What you don't know is that, since I took the job as regional field coordinator for the Bill Richardson campaign, I was obliged/privileged to have been there in an actual official capacity. And what a long, bizarre trip it was....

I didn't have to be there until Sunday, but considering the length of the trip, state of my car, and my desire to see my long-lost cousin/protégé Daniel Harvey at least once during this trip, we decided to get there a day early. So we hit the road after I got off my 'other' job at 6 pm. The only problem was that I had to take my own car to get there. Since I've yet to either fix or get rid of the "green monster," it (predictably) nearly overheated several times during the trip. We wound up having to do the "rest stop hop" all the way down I-26: stop at a rest area, top off the coolant, take a break while the engine cooled off, then hit the road and drive to the next rest area. So, what should've been a 3 hour road trip turned into a 5 and a half hour excursion, made worse by the fact that we had to stop in a little town called Sandy Run, SC and literally duct-tape the undercarriage guard back onto the car. So we ended up arriving at my cousin Daniel's south-of-Broad house at around 11:30, at which point we ordered pizza, watched some old Black Adder episodes, and called it a night.

At least until his crazy drunken housemates (and their guests) arrive home at around 3 am. Needless to say, we didn't get much sleep that night.

So Sunday at around noon we meet up with Trav Robertson and my new co-worker Andrew Hammett at the Holiday Inn Historic District, where we got to stay for the next two nights compliments of the campaign. Andrew, I must say, is a really nerdy little white guy. (Which is a very good thing in this line of work!) He's a senior at Clemson University, third vice-chair of the Anderson County Democratic Party, and easily one of the most competent people I've ever had the chance to work with...more on that later.

So anyways, Governor Richardson had two different meet-and-greet-style events scheduled for that day, both in the greater Charleston area. Our job was to arrive early at both of them and help set up, and then once the event started, to hand out "chum" (stickers, flyers, etc.) and maintain a sign-in list of everyone who showed up. Well, thanks to an effective outreach program by our campaign (and certainly helped by the beautiful weather--sunny and breezy with highs in the 80s), turnout was unexpectedly heavy at both events. Once you spend any time around the Governor, you realize that this is exactly the sort of venue at which he really excels: what we in the business calls "retail politics." Though perhaps he isn't the most gifted debater and does occasionally come across as "stiff" in front of the media, I've never met anyone with a better talent for working a crowd. It's here, while doing the real campaign "grunt work" of shaking hands and just talking with everyday voters, that he really shines. Even I was overwhelmed at the positive response he received. Many people who walked into the events undecided walked out at the end asking us for more bumper stickers and asking where they could go to volunteer--some even opened their wallets and checkbooks and made campaign contributions on the spot! Not bad for free events, eh?

And then came Monday. The Big Day. Debate Day. And this is where things got complicated....

See, the debate itself was held on the Citadel campus. And we in the campaign had all sorts of big ideas about how we would get our name out in front of the media. Ideas which, as the day unfolded, all turned out to run afoul of the city's, the Citadel's, and CNN's overlapping--and sometimes contradictory--rules regarding what we could do and where we could do it. And to make matters worse, THE ENTIRE CAMPUS was closed down for the event, meaning in most cases that we had to park our cars blocks and blocks away and either walk in the blazing hot Charleston sun carrying all our various promotional materials with us--or flag down one of the all-too-rare passing golf carts and hope they'd give us a ride. Not that any of it really us much good. FOR EXAMPLE: campaign signs, a staple of any campaign event. It turns out that:

1) We can't post them on campus.
2) We can't post them using any sort of stakes.
3) We can't staple them on any light posts--doing so would subject us to a $1,000 fine FOR EACH SIGN.
4) We can't board any bus going to the debate with them.
5) We can't even carry them anywhere beyond the "blue line" (which blocked off literally half the campus and put us hundreds of yards away from any TV cameras.)

....and so forth. What we ended up having to do was to round up all the volunteers we could and report to the designated off-campus "free speech zone," where we cheered and waved the signs at any passing cars. Not a terribly effective method, especially considering how little traffic was on that road and how many other yahoos were out there promoting their favorite candidates or causes.

SPEAKING OF YAHOOS...a glance around this particular square would lead you to some very inaccurate conclusions. Of course Clinton and Obama had the largest contingents there...they're eating our little campaign's lunch when it comes to fundraising and organization. (But then, they've had a little bit of a head start on us, too.) Joe Biden had a huge delegation there as well, which would be surprising, considering how little money he's raised and how miniscule his showings in the polls are. But, as I learned later, it was a real "rent-a-mob" situation. As it turns out, nearly all these so-called "volunteers" were paid to be there, just as his nearly ubiquitous tents and trolleys were rented by his campaign as well. Biden's campaign is in trouble, so he needs to make it LOOK like he has broad grassroots support...and what better way is there to do that than to hire a small army of "supporters" to get in front of the cameras? Beyond that....various interest groups (most of which I belong to) had their own delegations there as well, such as South Carolina Voters for Healthcare, the League of Conservation Voters, and TrueMajority. The Fair Tax crowd was out in force as well, which was a little surprising since their platform is basically a rehash of Steve Forbes's old "flat tax" proposal. Chris Dodd fans were few and far between, outnumbered even by the Ron Paul supporters (who were apparently confused about which party was debating that evening.) Someone was even ballsy enough to put a few "Support President Bush--Vote Republican" signs out there (although they apparently weren't ballsy enough to actually man those signs.) Another yahoo actually rented a plane and flew it around Charleston promoting the Stop Her Now website....suffice it to say, the whole event took on a real circus atmosphere, even though it all went down off-campus and safely away from most of the major media outlets.

Then came the actual debate. Of course security was tight...I had to leave my phone, cigarettes, and (naturally) any campaign-related paraphernalia I had on me (except for my credentials, which clearly identified me as "Harold Geddings, Richardson Campaign") back at our campaign's staging area across campus. Once I got in, though, it was fun. Our seats weren't great...we were close to the stage, but on the far right-hand side of the auditorium, so the only candidates we could really "see" were Kucinich, Biden, and our boy Richardson. I will say, though, that I did enjoy the format. My only complaint was, well...the same one that the Governor had.



Then after the debate came the official after-party, a wine-and-cheese event where I had little to do besides eat some really odd cheeses and listen to Howard Dean talk. Then after the official after-party came the real show: the Google party, where the music was bumping, the liquor was flowing, Anderson Cooper was getting down, and all the campaign staffers were "networking".....suffice it to say, there were a lot of happy Democrats partying well into the wee hours of the morning. Which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing. BUT...you know, you've really got to look at where the money for all this is coming from...and why. Granted, in this case, it's Google. Who cares. If they want to spend their money to give a bunch of staff peons like me a good time, more power to 'em. But....these things are largely unregulated, and they only get more lavish the further up the political ladder you go. Corporations don't host events like these because of their deep respect for our representative form of government. What if, instead of Google, it was a party hosted by ExxonMobil? Or by Pfizer? Or by Lockheed Martin? There's no such thing as a free lunch...especially so in politics. Suppose one of these multinational corporations decides to host a bangin' party and you're one of the guests of honor. And you just so happen to be someone who has some influence with a particular decision-maker. They scratch your back, and you're expected to scratch theirs later on. It's how things work in politics and why I've spent so much time on the "other" side of the picket line. It feels very odd for me to now be corporate-sponsored-party side. God help me...I got into politics to solve problems. Don't let me get so "used" to the perks that come with the job that I become a part of the problem myself!

But I digress. Of course, all good things must come to an end. After another lengthy drive on Tuesday (this time taking the scenic route up Highway 176, which was a lot easier on my car), I came back to Spartanburg and my two "real" jobs. But at least this is only temporary...once the campaign gets its Greenville office up and running, I'm going to be devoting a lot more time to the controlled chaos that is a Presidential primary.

Overall, this weekend was a very fun--and educational--experience. I got to meet virtually all the Richardson staffers on both the state and national level, most of whom I had previously only known by their e-mail addresses and phone numbers. There aren't a lot of us--yet--and from what I've seen I'm about the oldest current member of the field staff. But what we lack in numbers and experience we more than make up for in competence and enthusiasm. This should be an interesting six months, to be sure. I'll keep you posted!

Good news, everyone!

So the other day I went out antiquing with Gina and her mom.

Yes, I said "antiquing." I visited a bunch of quaint little shops around Landrum, SC and Tryon, NC, looking at shelf after shelf of dusty old junk. Actually, it was a lot more fun than it sounds like, trust me. And I actually got some stuff, too:

--First off, I found a whole pile of replacement plates. Yes, I'm still using a set of blue and white Currier and Ives dishes given to me by my grandparents (who, in turn, received them as a wedding present back in the '50s), that I never thought I'd be able to find again. Yes, I'm old school like that. But, lo and behold, I found some. I bought six plates and six saucers for a whopping $20. Now, if I could only find the teacups and small and large bowls to go with them, I could REALLY complete the set...

--I also got a new $12 pair of glasses. "New," that are probably about 100 years old. They're these old Ben Franklin-style wire-rim dealies that, believe it or not, not only fit me, but actually do more for my vision than my usual $150+ pair from LensCrafters. So you'd better believe I bought 'em. And have been wearing them at work ever since.

--And, to satiate my inner history buff, I picked up a stack of 1960's-era U.S. News and World Reports for $3.50 each (quite a mark-up, since their original cover prices ranged from 30 to 35 cents.) I couldn't turn 'em down, though, especially with such juicy cover stories as "How Communists Plan To Get Latin America," "Why Castro Allows Cubans To Flee," "How Real Is The Russia-China Break?", and "How Vulnerable Is Red China?" I've already had loads o' fun reading through them and, in true poli-sci geek fashion, laughing my ass off at some of their howlingly-bad predictions. I'll probably be posting a blog later of some of the better excerpts (with color commentary provided by yours truly), so stay tuned.

And I found all sorts of other stuff I liked too, like old military uniforms, flags, and nautical paraphernalia that I couldn't afford at the time, so I'll be going back soon.

___

In other news, I'd like to invite all my readers who currently reside in the greater Spartanburg area to come to the Beacon Drive-In on Reidville Road this Saturday, July 7th at 11 am. New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson will be there for a meet-and-greet. Yes, I know I've been harassing you all to check him out ever since I decided to endorse him. Well, here's your chance to get me off your back...just come out to meet the man in person and hear what he has to say. I'm sure you'll be as impressed with him as I am!

All hail Calypso, the All-Powerful Goddess of the Remotes!

Sometimes it sucks to be me. Need proof?

I can't even ride a go-cart without risking life and limb. Here's the story...

My buddy Tim bought a second-hand "yard cart" at the flea market the weekend before last for $150. It's basically the same kind of cart you'd find at mini golf courses and fun parks all over the country...only this one has had its original 3 and a half horsepower engine replaced with a 6 horsepower relative monster. It had no brakes and the chain kept jumping off, but Tim is one of those guys who can't resist a good "project."

So for most of last week, we tinkered. We thought we had most of the "bugs" out of it, but it still needed testing. And I didn't earn my reputation as a human crash-test dummy for nothing...

So last Wednesday I was driving it around the block. Everything was going well (or so I thought), so I decided to have a little fun with it while I was coming down the rather steep hill back to the house...a move that soon proved to be pretty stupid on my part. A bearing unexpectedly broke in the rear wheel, sending me careening headlong into a rock-strewn drainage ditch. Luckily, the cart took far more damage than I did. The steering knuckle snapped in half and the steering shaft was bent in the impact, while I escaped with only a few scrapes and bruises...plus a severely bruised groin where I caught the steering stabilizer in a rather, ahem, sensitive area, and a most unfortunate drug-resistant staph infection that found a scratch on my right leg to be a quite comfortable place to settle down and start a family.

So, for the rest of the week (and part of this week as well), I got an unexpected "vacation" from work. I was also loopy from all the fun painkillers and antibiotics the doctors at Urgent Care chose to prescribe for me. Otherwise, I was walking a bit funny (and being very careful about how I sat down) while I helped Tim rebuild his cart. All told, it could've been a lot worse. Tim and I are already laughing about the whole experience.

And no, I'm not going to post pictures.

I seriously hate having to do this.

Alas, this is the way our political system currently works. And if we're serious about changing the way things are going in Washington, we've all got to chip in to make it happen.

If you agree with my assertion that Governor Richardson is the best candidate to do it, I invite you to contribute here.

If you like another candidate, find their page and contribute there.

My point is, we need a change, and it's going to take a real grassroots effort to do it. As for me, I've got an interview with the Richardson campaign this Thursday...if all goes according to plan, I'll be working for his campaign soon. I know not everyone has the time or the desire to go work for a campaign full-time, but nearly everyone can contribute a few bucks to a favorite candidate.

If we don't do it, who will?

Leave it to a true political junkie like me to find an online game where you run your own country. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the People's Republic of Iguana Isle.



(I know the image is too big to display here, but there's a copy in my pics folder titled "stuff" if you're enough of a nerd to want to read it all.)

You know, I've been saying for a long time that this country would be a better place if more people would just listen to what I have to say. Some people may just call this a silly online simulation....I call it vindication.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'm making it official. After spending the last two and a half weeks doing extensive research into all the candidates, their records, and their positions on the issues, I'm ready to finally throw my support behind a Presidential candidate. And that candidate, gentle readers, is (drum roll, please)....

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson.

I think this ad pretty well sums it up for me....hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.



However, please don't construe this in any way as a knock on any of the other candidates. We do have an incredibly talented group of candidates running this year, which is why it's taken me so long to make this decision.

With that said...

If our party is going to get serious about breaking the stranglehold the Republican Party has on the South and rural America, we desperately need to shed our (somewhat undeserved) reputations as tax-and-spend Northeastern liberals.

If we're going to undo the damage the Bush administration has done to America's reputation in the international community, it's going to take an unusually talented diplomat to do so.

If we're going to get serious about climate change, we need a candidate with a truly ambitious plan to push alternative energy.

And finally, if we're going to get serious about ending the quagmire that is the Iraq War, we're going to have to back the only candidate with a plan to bring ALL our troops--combat and otherwise--home immediately.

Enter Governor Richardson. A skilled diplomat and proven leader with an impressive reputation for both ambitious agendas and fiscal responsibility. Simply put, he is exactly the kind of man we need to have leading our country in this rather...interesting time in our nation's history.

Feel free to read more for yourself here.

Now, I know he hasn't exactly achieved the "rock star" status enjoyed by some of the other candidates in this admittedly-crowded Democratic field. But this race shouldn't be about which candidate is the best at raising money or who looks the best on television. It should be about who would be the best person for the job, and no one from either party is more qualified to occupy the offices at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Feel free to disagree with me if you want...that's what democracy is all about. Nevertheless, I'm putting my metaphorical money where my mouth is. I've already contacted Trav Robertson, Jr. (field director for the Richardson campaign) about positions available here in South Carolina. At the very least, this should be a real adventure...I'll keep you posted. Stay tuned!