William Rivers Pitt isn’t married and has no screaming children at home. He has had the same girlfriend, a Boston attorney, for the past eight years. And he’s among the lucky ones: she actually understands why, on a moment’s notice, he’s picking up and leaving his apartment, his job — and her — to go out on the road to fight for a no-hope presidential hopeful like Dennis Kucinich.
Pitt, a New York Times best-selling author and liberal journalist, flew out to Washington state Tuesday morning to join the Kucinich bandwagon as his new national press secretary. His girlfriend, he boasts, has a Kucinich sign in the back of her car. He says she, too, loves Kucinich.
Some guys aren’t as fortunate. And some eventually don’t care. People who work on presidential campaigns or have ever worked on high-profile races know the sacrifices that come with temporarily giving up their lives for what they believe is a greater cause. These campaign aides speak of the “rush” and “addiction” of working on a race. It’s hard work, but they wouldn’t think of kicking the habit. “It’s the most tiring, exhausting, at times debilitating thing you’ll ever be involved in,” said Kenneth Baer, who worked as a speechwriter on Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. “At the same time, it’s the most exhilarating and rewarding and exciting thing you’ll ever do, especially around now where actual votes are starting to be cast.”
http://www.thehill.com/living/020504_campaigning.aspx