With a newly printed diploma-hand, Dan Prats set out three years ago in his car to help out with the struggling Clinton-Gore campaign. Having worked in the Clinton Campaign on the University of New Hampshire campus, Prats traveled up and down the East Coast campaigning for Clinton and Gore because "it was fun and an adventure."

"Ever since I was a kid I have always wanted to make a difference," Prats, 26, said. "Due process is most important, preservation of the system, standing up for what you believe in..."

Although life on the campaign trail is rough, workers said they are happy about their choice of profession.

"I enjoy being involved in politics, because the issues that you deal with change from day-to-day, week-to-week," said Dean Serpa, deputy regional political director for the Northeast region of the Pete Wilson for President campaign. "There are no prerequisites for success in politics. You need no educational back-ground, you need no wealth, it is just hard work that makes you successful."

"Campaigns attracted me, because it is not a 9-5 job, not a black or white job, every single minute is different," Mayberry said.

In a world where planes are frequently late, where inclement weather frequently ruins the best-planned event, where candidates run late after shaking one too many hands, campaign staffers say they must sometimes rearrange the entire daily schedule in order to accommodate the delay.

"Lamar's plane today got diverted and was forced to land in Boston at Logan. So I had to race to Logan to pick him up then I had to quickly reschedule two radio appearances, meetings with the mayor and the police chief," Mayberry said.

Campaign workers say long days like this make their tempers shorter, their smiles a little more half-hearted and their handshakes a little less firm.

"I get here early in the morning and take lunch around 3:30 in the afternoon. I'm sad to say that I don't have time to cook, I can't even eat pasta when I come home late at night...I don't have time to sit there and wait for the water to boil," said McCabe, who said he works six or seven days a week, eleven hours a day.

McCabe, like the other campaign workers, skips healthy meals and the campaign trail, stopping instead at the nearest fast-food drive-thru.

In election year, the family doctor's advice on healthy eating is ignored for their candidate's sake, the four food groups quickly become McDonald's Burger King. Dunkin' Donuts and Denni's.

"You are never paid well, the hours are incredibly long...but you also tend to get an affinity for Denny's at three in the morning." Prats said.

"I have eaten so much McDonald's, it's unbelievable," Mayberry said. "Every time I drive up to the drive-thru, I am hoping that I will find something different on their menu."

Workers say they even develop a certain fast food aesthetic.

"McDonald's is my choice for fast food, everything on their burger is small and in the center and it is clean. When I go to Burger King or Wendy's, there is always that danger of having a tomato or union fall out of the burger and getting on you." Mayberry adds with a laugh.