Politics has been described as a circus and in one way it truly is: the nomadic nature of the workforce. I have a friend who was a candidate and he spent the week de-campaigning: driving around the county picking up signs, disposing of all the remaining literature in the office, packing anything that may be useful in the next campaign, filing reports and writing thank you notes.
He is one of the lucky ones who has continued in his full-time job while campaigning, but many of the office staffers find themselves unemployed. Their party’s lead candidate lost so there will be no congressional offices to staff or fundraising to continue. They now must either leave the area to go elsewhere for another campaign or find work outside of party politics – at least for a year until the cycle revs up again.
I previously wrote about all the behind-the-scenes work that goes on before a campaign, but never really considered all the post-election operations whether you are elected or not, or for those who were on the staff and not the ballot.
Campaign has a military meaning as well as a political one. As we celebrate Veterans Day today, think about all that happened before, during and after all of our campaigns to keep America free.
