When Nathan Karp '07.5 visited Adam Delehanty '07.5 and Will Bowling '07.5 in Colorado this summer, they took him straight from the airport to a voter registration drive. Delehanty and Bowling were so busy working on President-elect Obama's campaign, Karp had to join them in order to spend time together. He got caught up in the energy of the campaign and after his vacation ended, he returned to California, quit his job and went back to Denver to join his friends.
Like many alumni working for the Obama campaign, Karp worked 17 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.
"You can't do anything else. Things like exercise and eating well - these things all become second," Karp said.
"You get campaign fever," said Delehanty, who joined the campaign in January and traveled to Alabama, Texas, Indiana and Pennsylvania during the primaries before taking a position in Colorado.
The payoff for their hard work came Nov. 4, when Obama won the election, and Colorado, by wide margins. But as the thrill of victory begins to wear off, many staffers - who were too focused and busy for thoughts beyond election day during the campaign - are starting to look hesitantly towards the future.
"It's almost like 'OK, we won, now what?' " Delehanty said.
Andrew Morans '06.5, who worked as an organizer in North Carolina, plans to return to Brooklyn, N.Y., and continue working as a freelance writer. But for many participants, the campaign has sparked a lasting interest in political work. Karp, who never considered working for the government before, said he's now more open to the idea of government or civil service and is seriously considering trying to get a job in Washington.
"I think every staffer wants to work for the administration," said Delehanty, who has applied for a job with the campaign's transition team. "It's going to be an exciting time to be in DC."
In a campaign-wide conference call last Wednesday, Obama told staffers that he will try to employ anyone that's interested, said Megan Saggese '06, who worked in the campaign's communication department in the state of New Mexico.
"I'm going to apply to work on the transition team," she said. "I'm pretty sure nearly everyone in this campaign is going to apply to that."
Obama is currently putting together a transition team that will help plan the inauguration and handle other logistical concerns that arise between now and Jan. 20. While the transition team will be relatively small, 3,000 full-time posts need to filled in a new administration. Another 7,000 people will be named to different advisory boards and commissions.
Back in Denver, staffers are still "celebrating but also transitioning," Karp said. In states like Colorado, where the campaign placed considerable resources, dismantling the infrastructure and doing everything from returning borrowed tables to disposing of lawn signs is the immediate task at hand.
Moving away from the campaign can be a difficult transition though. "It's such a different lifestyle," Morans said. "I can't remember what it's like to read the newspaper or sit down for a meal."
