the candidate

The office is a disaster. I'm eating a mildly unpleasant combination of microwaved soup and packaged brownie. For the campaign, I guess - I'll eat anything as long as it does not require leaving the office. Most people on the campaign eat junk, and at abnormal times. Lunch for me falls anywhere between 2:30 and 4:00. Dinner - I guess 10pm, if I remember. You'd think we'd lose weight, but because everything is packaged, we all look a bit puffy from sodium and sallow from too much time in a gray-carpeted office with florescent lighting.

The candidate breezes down the hall to my cube. "What's up, chief," I say. "Nicole!" he exclaims. He sits in the chair. We discuss the presidential race, and whether Hilary will take the VP slot. Or whether Barack will offer it to her. He says she would take it. I don't know if this is conjecture or if he actually knows. I choose to pretend that he actually knows, no matter what the issue. He is, after all, the candidate.

"What are you eating?" he says. I pick up the phone and order him a sandwich, and he starts to leave. "Turkey on wheat, lettuce, tomato, a little mustard and a little mayo. Yes... ok. 15 minutes? Can you do it in 10?"

He pops back in. "Oh, and I need two copies of that letter, printed on letterhead. Please." He says. A few minutes later, from his office, "Nicole - can you come look at my computer? It was doing this thing before when I was at the meeting..."

Being high up in the campaign seems like it would be glamorous. And I suppose it is. At events, I always have a photo with the candidate. I get to sit at the same table as him, and wear an appropriate-for-evening suit. I talk to other muckety-mucks. At other times, being high up in the campaign means I do the shit work when no one else is around to do it - because I'm never supposed to leave. When the candidate is fundraising with defense contractors, I'm in the office. When the candidate has meetings, I'm in the office. When the candidate spends time with his family, I'm in the office. When the candidate is sleeping, I'm in the office. When the candidate is in the office, I better be in the office. Once I had to take a bio break and it elicited a frown.

I'm accommodating. That's what a chief of staff for a candidate must do. I like to think of it as "managing up." The lies we tell ourselves keep us sane.