October 30, 2008 | Filed under: Good Things Come to Those Who Are Impatient Whiners, It's Called "Having a Life." You Should Try It.

You know that commercial for Comfort Inn, I think, with that baritone guy Johnny Cash singing “I’ve been to Reno, Chicago, Fargo…”? That’s pretty much me these days, except that I stay in much nicer hotels. (Like this one, where, I kid you not, the bathroom was at least half the size of my living room.)

I’ve managed to experience three seasons in one week, as DC was resplendent in fall colors when I left town last weekend. Yesterday featured a 60-degree swing, as I got on a plane in Arizona, where it was 87 degrees out, and landed after midnight in New Hampshire, where it snowed Tuesday and felt like 29 degrees around the time I took off from Phoenix. TWENTY-NINE. With SNOW. (No, really, together we’ll conserve body heat.)

Thankfully, in my suitcase right next to my swimsuit and flip flops are a down jacket, hat, scarf and gloves. I thought I might be going a little overboard with the winter packing, but as it turns out, nope. I’ll need ‘em.

In similarly shocking-to-the-system news, 2008 is the year of identity politics, and apparently I did not escape its pervasive reach. While the Phoenix trip was for work, spending the next week in New Hampshire is entirely my own doing. As with the last election, I took a look around for exciting races where candidates could really use the help. Unlike last time, the candidates that really spoke to me were all women. Yes, of course I’m helping with the Presidential contest, too, but the big draw for me was down-ticket races in a place where the Presidential race was also competitive. My motivation is pretty straight-forward: the more women there are in the House and the Senate, the more likely it is that one of them will eventually be elected President. While we’ve made great strides in the last four years increasing the female membership of Congress, a paltry 32% of Senators wear suits by Donna Karan, not the Brooks Brothers.

It is this sentiment that led me to New Hampshire, a state I’ve never been to and where I know exactly zero people. But, in the way that DC is the biggest small town around, a friend of a friend is working on my front-runner campaign, so an e-mail introduction and one phone conversation later, I was slated to spend the week leading up to the election on the ground in New Hampshire. Snow and freezing temperatures notwithstanding, I’m super excited to be here. I just hope I brought warm enough clothes.

1. Superfantastic says:
   

   And I thought back to back San Francisco to Phoenix/work to vacation trips represented a packing challenge. Have fun advancing the cause of feminism!

   October 31st, 2008 at 12:33 am
2. pia says:
   

   I didn’t even ask you who you were campaigning for when you emailed me!
   If you need a homecooked meal, shoot me an email and I’ll set up Sunday dinner at my parents house. No joke!

   October 31st, 2008 at 8:48 am
3. kat says:
   

   I will never complain about travel again! Did that bathroom have a phone, TV and wet bar (for those long, leisurely baths that you, obviously, won’t have time to take)? Advancing feminism is a good thing. Enjoy your travels and worthwhile cause.

   November 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 pm