“I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut. And write a novel. The Great American Novel, of course. That’s all.”

But right now this Minnesota native manages to occupy herself with politics and plays.

She is producing her fifth show next semester, Crazy for You, a musical based on George Gershwin songs. Last semester, she produced South Pacific.

Rubins says that producing plays and working campaigns are very similar in some respects—a group of dedicated people comes together for a period of time for a common goal and then disbands once that goal is accomplished.

“The campaign has a special place because it’s bigger than anything else I do,” she said as she rushed back from New Hampshire to teach Hebrew School. “I can see what I do for the campaign having a real effect on the country. It’s more worldly. But, on the other hand, I need to take advantage of every second at school. When will I get to produce a Broadway musical again?”

Rubins is the only Harvard student volunteering at Lieberman’s headquarters, and though other members of Students for Lieberman have come up to New Hampshire for one-day canvassing, she is the only student to have made a long-term commitment.

“A lot of people I’ve talked to support him but don’t want to make the trek,” she says.

Rubins admits that there isn’t wide support for Lieberman on Harvard’s campus outside of the Students for Lieberman group. She says that students are attracted to the “glamour” of the Dean and Clark campaigns.

“If you don’t think a lot about [the issues], these are the campaigns that students are drawn to. Clark and Dean seem to be more liberal than Joe,” she says.

Rubins thinks that the current challenge for Lieberman is to beat Clark to become the “anti-Dean.”

“Clark is his biggest competitor now, but ultimately it will be Dean,” she says. “And that will be decided in the South where Joe is hugely popular.”

Lieberman is currently polling at 9 percent in South Carolina.

Campaign Lieberman: A Hope and a Prayer

Rubins met Lieberman—whom she calls “Joe”—at campaign headquarters in Washington, D.C. last summer. The first thing she asked him is where to find a good synagogue for Friday night services.

Like Lieberman, Rubins is an Orthodox Jew.