The One Date

Despite the hard work and the solitude, workers say there will be time later for that special relationship, for now, the only date that matters, is Election Day.

"Election Day is, believe it or not, the quietest day in the campaign office," Mayberry recalled. "You are just preparing for the night. That night, when the election results start coming in, you have the mental calculator cranking all night. It is an emotional roller coaster."

Yet, during this tumultuous day, the sense of finality is also on their minds.

"Election Day, you're up at three in the morning getting things ready and then you wait until seven in the evening sitting on pins and needles," Prats remembered. "But if you win, you don't care how tired you are."

Win or lose on this day, friends met in the campaign office will be moving on and the campaign office, their "home" for the past few months will close. Although working on the campaign was rough, it paid and it was a job.

"Election Day is like the Super Bowl, you work the whole season to prepare for just one day and when it's over, it's over," McCabe said. "It's so quick...the day after, you lock the door, turn off the lights, clean the files and then it is over."

"In New Hampshire, it's over on February 20 and February 21 I am technically unemployed," Mayberry said.

But workers were not yet thinking about the end of the road on a Friday night in late September. On that night, in a rare occurrence, workers received a free meal of spaghetti and fresh bread courtesy of the Institute of Politics.

However, the campaign must go on and so most of the workers quickly began tearing down the signs and packing away the promotional materials. And as the lights dimmed, the courtesy meal could not even entice them to stay longer.

Workers soon hurriedly left the Kennedy School on their way back up to the Granite State on 1-93, knowing that there are plenty of golden arches on the interstate.