Talk Elections

Please detail any non-elective political experience you may have had.  This includes things such as serving as a staffer, intern or aide to either a Congressperon, Senator, governor or state legislator.  Internships or employment with any executive agency is also noteworthy. If anyone has ever served in the White House that would be really cool!

I'll go first.

I recently served as a United States Senate page under Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) from September 2011 to January 2012.  All of the staffers I talked to would always comment on how lucky I was because I got to be on the floor everyday and see all 100 Senators on almost a daily basis.  A lot of the Senators are really cool and nice to the pages (Inhofe, Milkulski, Franken) while others are absolute d-bags (Kerry, McCain, Paul)--a guess spending your life in the shadow of failed presidential campaigns will leave one pretty sour.  Other cool Senators were Pryor, Ayotte, Collins, Thune, Coons and Cardin.  Also, Reid is has a much better sense of humor and is less awkward than McConnell.

Granted, I was a Republican page so I did not interact with Democratic Senators as much, but I had enough interaction with them to form opinions of them.  I got to see a few House members--like Kristi Noem, Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, Louise Slaughter, Deb Wass-Schultz, and Dennis Kuchinich.   

We also got to meet the Vice President, who is a much nicer guy than the President (got to meet him too).  Was on the House floor for the SOTU and I got to stand right behind Michele Bachmann, who had her fair share of comments. 

All in all, it was an awesome experience and nothing I ever do again will probably compare to it.  I hope they decide to keep the program for future generations and its something I'll for sure be pressuring my kids into doing!

Has anyone else ever served as a Page?  Or any other staffer-like position?

Please discuss... 

Sounds nice. I think hcallega became a page for DC or something like that. Did you do this while in high school, and if so how did your entire moving and school situation work out?

That's really neat! I've done paging, but only on the state level. Almost all the one's I encounter there are very pleasant, though I have had a few experiences, both with Republicans and Democrats, that weren't as pleasant.

Other than that, I've done a lot of volunteer work and served as the county coordinator for a Congressional campaign, and am also on my town's election board. All of this pales in comparison to your cool experiences, though! :)

I might be paging for my State Legislature this summer.  Strange as it sounds, I'm actually excited about it.  While Jackson isn't as cool as DC, a lot more actually gets done at the state-level and the pages in Jackson are much busier.  The life of the Senate page is one of boredom, hours of Quorum Call interupted only by the occasional floor speech.

Wow. I can't imagine being ready for school at 6:15 when I can't even get to my 7:30 school on time. :P I can see how my love for comedy central would get in the way of my work too. Damn.

Yea.

Wow, that sounds really cool! :) Is Rand Paul really a d-bag though?

No paging, but your experience sounds awesome.

I was going to be one of our state house member's intern for a semester (Which was cool that I know her well since most people have to go through an application process without a contact and are rejected due to so many applicants), but I couldn't make it work with my schedule, which is unfortunate. There is a possibility I do it next year starting in Jan with the new session (her district has moved a few points more R so it is unlikely she will be defeated), but unfortunately I have classes I must take that are the two last blocks (we take half or classes one day and then half the next). Oh well :/ Hopefully I can do it in college!

I might intern next summer, but thats so far away right now that I don't think alot about it. I am, however, a regular volunteer for Adam Hasners campaign. That allowed me to meet Tim Pawlenty, and many more famous surrogates are planned for this summer.

I pictured him as a d-bag, but it would not surprise me if he was frequently moody.

Cool experience, man. Btw, how is Senator Cochran personally?

That sounds awesome. I could never do that cause I'm in IB, but I've paged for FL House; a week in a hotel in Tallahassee doesn't hold a candle to that though.

I applied to be a page in the House, but my Representative didn't get to appoint any that year.  I'm currently volunteering with the Buddy Roemer campaign, so I suppose that counts for something.  And I'll be going to Boys State in a little over a month, which is sort of political.

Plans right now are to become an elections inspector & to elect someone a state delegate for Ron Paul.

I stood next to John Burton in the elevator at the California Democratic Party State Convention in 2010.

Oh, you meant actual work experience. Sorry, no. :P

I spent some time on the staff of Chris Shays as an LA. Was an interesting experience, but I wasnt a big fan of it. I was able to go back to working on his campaigns, thats where teh fun was.

I am currently an intern for a Member of Parliament (Bruce Hyer, I-ON, formerly NDP).  I have also interned for another MP (Peter Julian, NDP-BC). I'm currently on contract, so I'm getting paid instead of the normal volunteer work.

Well, I'm now a public servant for four months, but otherwise I've canvassed for two political campaigns in 2011.