November 2, 2008 | Filed under: Is She Still Talking?, It's Called "Having a Life." You Should Try It.

Oh, you knew I’d use that line at least once this week.

Things are going well.  I have managed to not look like a complete idiot this time around, with the exception of getting my rental car stuck in the mud yesterday afternoon. Um, yeah.

(The short version: Google sent me down a “road” that was not so much a road as ooky-gooky-mud-and-maybe-cow-manure-covered-by-leaves. Between a campaign staffer pushing the car and my forward/reverse/turn the wheels magic, we managed to unstick the car. Then I asked the local farmer for better directions, ones which involved driving on a paved state highway to get to our destination.)

At any rate, the people here are great, the volunteers are numerous and dedicated, and I’ve managed to find a good niche, doing whatever needs to be done that the regular campaign staff can’t get to. Today that was running a satelite location from whence canvassers were dispatched.

New Hampshire itself (or this part of it) is ridiculously pretty, with shining blue lakes, evergreens and deciduous trees decked out in golds and oranges and rusty, firey reds. It’s certainly not a wealthy part of the state and much of the county is rural, which is supremely comfortable for me, as it’s reminiscent of where I grew up.

(Please excuse the shoddy pictures; it was the best I could do in 60 seconds of fine quality photography on my cell phone.)

The craziness of the campaign has set in — in my house I’m the first one out the door in the morning and the last one to come in at night. I eat handfuls of dry Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast on my drive in. I’ve managed to spend time chatting with the other volunteers crashing there, but I have yet to meet the owners. (Four of us are staying in their “guest house,” which used to be a family’s real house until the current owners purchased it, as it was the property adjacent to their real — and even larger — house.)

Despite the 12- to 15-hour days, I find myself mentally toying with the idea of doing a campaign — like, really working, not volunteering. It appears I have the required qualities — supreme organizational skills, constant enthusiasm for mundane tasks, and the ability to accept whatever the volunteers produce, even though it’s often less than perfect. Also, a car I’m willing to chuck miscellaneous campaign literature, food and signage into. And drive through the mud in.

Yes, I am crazy, thanks for asking.

1. pia says:
   

   Good luck! I will have to reprimand you for letting out the secret on the beauty of my homestate. I prefer most Americans continue to ask me things like “New Hampshire? Is that north of Maine?”

   November 3rd, 2008 at 9:49 am
2. Superfantastic says:
   

   I have always thought you’d be a campaign natural. You thrive on that particular brand of crazy that would find a lot of people whimpering and rocking themselves in a corner. When I meet the man who will make me First Lady, I’ll make sure he puts you in charge of the campaign. Just as long as you promise that I will, under no circumstances, be scheduled to appear on The View.

   November 3rd, 2008 at 2:51 pm