Does anyone know how many of these freaks actually get paid a salary? Is this their full time gig or do they just sit around and watch CSPAN the rest of the time. I wonder what % of campaigns have volunteers vs paid. Anyone know the hierarchy? I have recently wondered because when you think about it, a massive swing in public opinion can change a little crap campaign into a multimillion dollar operation and it is curious how they can just quickly amass workers.
Want to get paid? There are five ways: Be good friends with the candidate before he is a candidate. Be the offspring of someone who knows the candidate or gives them lots of money. Work for the candidate before they are a candidate. Be good friends with one of the key staffers for the candidate. Volunteer and work 70+ hours a week for the candidate and do a great job that gets you noticed by the candidate and/or key staffers and you might get a paid gig for the next run. These are not jobs that are advertised and applied for. Belief in the candidate is a must and must be demonstrated as nobody wants to hire someone that might later sabotage the operation. It is very much a "who you know" kind of job.
When it comes to local campaigns, hardly any of this is true. Unless it's something like a mayoral campaign, which has a higher budget (and even then, it typically only applies to major metro cities). The higher you go up the ladder, the more staffers are paid. Hardly any staffers or consultants get paid big bucks until you start getting into really lofty territory. You can typically get a paying gig through open application (I did), but as with any job, having contacts helps. Thing is, though, is that people aren't typically lining up for these jobs, as the hours are long and the pay isn't that great. The other way staffers get hired on is through schooling and internships, fyi. Typically there isn't some kind of loyalty pledge or blood oath you have to fulfill, just a bunch of non-compete and non-disclosure agreements will typically cover that. You don't have to agree with everything about what you're doing, or even personally like the issue or candidate, but it certainly helps. Many of these people are just hired mercenaries and they know it, and they're often willing to compromise on their beliefs for a paycheck.
A lot of them are people who are working for someone and/or something they believe in. They probably think those that just sit on their ass and whine about it on a basketball message board are the freaks.
In answer to your other questions, on a national or statewide campaign it ususally is fulltime and lots more. 100 hours a week is not outside the norm. The % of paid is small. Most candidacies run on volunteer labor. If you go from a struggling presidential campaign to a contender in a short time and are trying to build a national organization, you usually end up going with people your people vouch for. For instance, if you know nobody in Montana but one of your key staffers says "I went to school with Joe, he's good people." then Joe becomes your state director for Montana. If two people know two different people in Montana, the one with the most pull gets their guy. Most of the paid staff on a presdiential campaign (outside of consultants and a few key people close to teh candidate) are going to be youngsters with no major ties to jobs and the economic freedom (well-off parents)to go live in some place like the Quad Cities for 6 months. If your guy wins and becomes president, you call in your chits and try to get a paying gig with the Feds via appointment or hire by one of your buddies.
What do they do for the rest of the time? How can they just drop everything and work for a job that could over in a day with a sex scandal or a botched debate.
Judging by the venomous attacks everytime Barry is mentioned, I'd say quite a few Barry's campaign workers are right here on this board. I'm wondering how much you folks are paid and any stimulus money is involved?
It's contract work, that's the nature of the business. Often times they have 2 or 3 jobs going at once.
I was responding more for the statewide/national races, where most of the paid staffers are. You are correct about local races and I forgot about the internship route, which is essesntially the same thing as working for the candidate but a little different. On the national level, internships are difficult to come by unless you know somebody and have the economic means to live without income for an extended period. There are very few interns from poor families working on Capital Hill right now.
I agree with what rimrocker said, with one notable exception: Machine politics. If you live in an area with a powerful political machine, most of the poll location campaign workers are paid (very low, but paid). A large portion of your union dues goes to paying these people to hand out Democratic candidate literature to whomever walks up.
There are contractors, like pollsters, ad people, and the like, but the campaign is much more dependent on volunteer labor and cheap young people. And yes, it could disappear in news cycle, but the nature of the game is you place your bets on the guy you think will win or who you think is the best candidate. If they lose, you try to build your cantacts anyway as someof the folks you work with will end up on someone else's campaign next time.
I could see interning. That is logical, but people who need to make a living doing this seems weird. They obviously have skills that could get them other gigs.
Even the people who work for the campaign directly are contractors, and yes, the vast majority of the force behind campaigns are unpaid volunteers. But often times people work on campaigns and don't get hired on as part of that persons staff in office. Like I said, they're hired guns, mercenaries, and they know it. Win or lose, they move onto the next battle. It's an unstable job that works in cycles, so they typically have other things going on in the meantime.
Alot of em just get on with any campaign.. A guy that worked Mayor Parker's campaign told me he travels city to city signing on ... Sounded very Oregon Trailish to me but he was dead serious... He said he was traveling by bus to (I think) Albany, NY for a campaign gig... Needless to say he looked like he lived in his suitcase.....
The inherent instability? Some lines of work you have to accept it. I don't think the skill set or experience a campaign worker needs would have such instability in any other setting.
Part of their skill set, as rimrocker alluded to, is their network of people, which often keeps them employed. Sometimes in fairly lucrative fashion. You can get short term gigs that pay quite a bit per hour. The other part of it is the fact that, yes, sometimes they believe they're working for a cause. That drives/motivates them. I don't empathize with them, but I certainly understand it. Ideally, yes, you want to wind up with a cushy, less volatile position. And that's how it typically goes. Get better and better contacts and experience until you don't have to slog it in campaigns anymore, but some people... that's just their thing.
I'm friends with a guy very well connected within the democratic party and has worked on many high level democrat campaigns in the last several years. He is contracted labor (gets paid well) for the party and does it kind of as a side job & works as an exec during the day. He is single, no kids so it is a hobby (he's always been into politics/student govt ect) and I believe a way to give back for him to the causes he believes in since he has no other obligations aside from his job. I know he enjoys it but not something I'd ever do but then again I'm married and see fault with both parties enough to not invest my time.
Great what about the volunteers? You are probably talking about the top % who actually make cash and run campaigns full time. Volunteers might be glorified office workers or telemarketers.
