A Day in the Life with a Lobbyist

Today TWC had an event called “A Day in the Life with a Lobbyist.” When I got the e-mail I wasn’t really interested because I work at a lobbying firm. However, when I saw it was at Downey McGrath Group, Inc. with one of the vice presidents, Sloan Rappoport, I was really excited! Don’t get me wrong, I love my internship, but spicing it up a little bit is always a good thing! And they brought free Potbelly's, and after a few months on an unpaid internship and blowing money you don’t have, free food is greatly appreciated.

I told my boss that I was going to sit in the meeting and just respond “No, you don’t” to everything he said and ask difficult questions, just to make it more fun. I behaved, though, and the program went really well. It was very interesting and I actually learned a lot more about what he does. What was more interesting was seeing the other students ask questions and hearing how he answered them. He should've mentioned that kitchen duty is a perk to being a lobbyist--DMG rotates the person on duty each week, as Sloan told me after the session.

In addition, the Big Three from the main car manufacturing companies were in DC today. The other intern got to go to the meeting (we normally swap every other one), but I watched it in the office. It was fascinating. It’s amazing to me how after the bailout passed everyone thinks they deserve a little piece of the cake! Is following normal bankruptcy laws no longer an option?! It just seems like a band-aid to me and will not help the infrastructure of these companies. What was worse is they were talking about people losing jobs and their retirements, but those attending the meeting flew in on private jets on the company's dollar?! Take away a few luxurious trips and they could probably pay for most of these people's retirements! Americans! We don’t know how good we have it sometimes!

DC Nightlife

I thought I would dedicate one entry to the nightlife in DC. DC definitely is mostly work, but there is a little time for play too. Of course for the 21 and up group DC’s nightlife is amazing. There are 4 main areas that we like to go. Georgetown, Dupont Circle, Adams Morgan, and K Street. My favorite area is Dupont Circle. It is a mix of Georgetown and Adams Morgan. My roommates go to this place called The Front Page, which is right next to the Dupont Metro. My roommates are Mexican, and it seems as if they are always traveling in crowds of 10-20. A group of 5 with them is unheard of! But always a great time! Also, since my roommates are Mexican they like going to Latin American clubs. Café Citron and Sesto Senso are also in Dupont Circle. Reeeally fun! Warning lots of sombreros and loud Spanish music. I’ve made it out there a few Thursdays, but I try not to go out during the week because I’m one of those people that don’t function without 8 hours of sleep!

Playing the bongos at a Latino bar

Adams Morgan isn’t really my style. I like to get dressed up and go out. I felt like it was a very “fratty” area and everytime I’ve been there the street has been loaded with police officers on standby. To me it means they are there for a reason, so I didn’t feel that safe there. But a lot of people like it because there aren't too many lines and the drinks there are really cheap compared to the rest of DC. My favorite place there is Madam’s Organ. Live bands, great crowd, really fun time. Adams Morgan also has Jumbo Slice Pizza that normally wouldn’t sound good any other time of the day other than when its time to go home! I would recommend Adams Morgan during the day and hit up there shops and restaurants. Night, not so much.

Out with my Roomies!

Georgetown is awesome if you can afford it! I would say the drinks there are double the price at most places. Also, the Metro doesn’t go directly to Georgetown. They did this on purpose because they didn’t want the “riffraff” coming into Georgetown. So ladies if you are wearing heels carry a big purse and some flip flops because you will be walking a lot!

K Street is also very fun. This is the street to go out and get really dressed up on which is one of my favorite things to do. We go to this place called The Park, which is 4 floors, and each plays different kinds of music. It is also right across the street from the McPherson Square Metro, so no walking necessary, which you’ll find is key in DC. If you are traveling with males, beware that it is not easy to get them in everywhere. But a group of ladies? That’s a different story. This is by far one of my favorite places. Lima and Butterfly Lounge are across the street which are both classy clubs, but they are much more relaxed.

Oddly enough, the rain has kept us in Rockville or Bethesda quite a bit. The traveling and commuting gets to you, so when the weather is bad its hard to be motiviated to take a long train ride. But Gordon Biersch and BlackFinn are a ton of fun! Definitely your jeans and T-shirt kind of places, but when its raining, who really cares about looking cute anymore?!

The girls out for dinner in Rockville

I’m still on a mission to find my favorite restaurant. So far it is still Sushi Damo out by my apartment in Rockville. Surprisingly enough Baja Fresh is up there too. This isn’t really a restaurant, it's more like a Qdoba or Chipotle, but I LOVE IT! Don’t stand between a girl and her burritos. I’m a classy girl what can I say! It’s also conveniently located next to The Front Page in Dupont, so is great for late night cravings.

Dinner with TWC friends

Off to Ohio to campaign for McCain/Palin 2008

Planting signs!

When I was at the Vice Presidential debate at ESPN Zone in DC, I was introduced to several people. One of these was Marc Lampkin, who was assembling a team from DC to go to Ohio to campaign the week before the election. I got the ok with my boss and headed out to Columbus, Ohio, which I think is the most important battle ground state in this election and normally a must in order to win the presidency. Random fact, JFK is the only President who has ever won without Ohio. I flew out on Halloween night, so I wasn’t able to dress up. However, I had my hair pulled back and someone said “Hey guys look that girl over there is dressed up as Cindy McCain!” So YES I did have a costume and I didn’t even know it. She is a beautiful woman, but 30 years my senior--not exactly a compliment! It was far from a wild night because we had to be up early to begin intensive campaigning for a candidate we all knew needed a miracle.

This was my first campaign so I didn’t know exactly what to expect. When I arrived, I met Team Lampkin, and it was everyone from Senior Bush Appointees to military officers, lobbyists, and college students--a very diverse group of people. I was pretty nervous just because I know how frustrating it is having strangers calling and knocking all day before an election! We started out in Westerville, a cute quaint neighborhood that had street names like walnut and birch. It was a great first day for me because I knew a lot of doors were not going to be slammed in my face because it was suburban America, which is predominantly Republican. After going door to door, the positive reactions from the constituents there made me start to get awkwardly optimistic about the election, and as we said we “started drinking the kool-aid.” The next day we went to a Republican area, but they had low voter turnout, again signs in every yard and they came to the door with open arms. Interesting.

Door to door trying to win Ohio!

We spent the next several days canvassing until it got dark out and then we did phone banks. It’s amazing how pleasant people are to you when they can put a face to a message, but on the phone it is a different story. I had my life threatened several times! As much as people say they hate the calls and will not vote because they are annoyed, statistically they still vote. So even if they threaten your first born you have to keep on keepin on!

Phone banking's finest

What made me even more optimistic was standing outside by voter precincts and holding McCain/Palin signs. I didn’t get flipped off once, so you know campaigning that’s a good day! The worst I heard was “UGH you’re voting for Mclane?! OBAMA!” Yeah, she probably shouldn’t vote if she doesn’t know who is running against Obama. Also, the 8-12 year olds on buses were rather ruthless too, but again not our target audience and their bus driver gave us the thumbs up so that’s all that matters. We spent election night calling the West coast after the Ohio polls closed and listening to updates on the news (Fox of course, which is drinking the kool-aid even more!). The first update we heard was the Virginia exit polls, where McCain took the first lead, and that Republican voter turn-out in Pennsylvania was at 200%. It was game on from there and I’ve never gone through phone lists so fast!

Of course, we all know how the night ended up. God bless Obama and Axelrod, they ran one of the best campaigns this nation has ever seen and the historical significance of his victory is incredible. To think only four decades ago the Civil Rights Act was passed. Now, do I think this country is better off electing him? No. The people yelling “Yes we can” at Obama’s victory party still make me nervous, as I'm not sure what they're talking about. To be honest, I don’t think they even know exactly, but change is definitely going to come in the next four years with a Democratic supermajority and no checks; I can only pray it’s positive change. The election was a Bush referendum in the midst of a collapsing economy; an uphill battle would be an understatement, but there was no way I would have been able to sleep at night if I knew I didn’t do everything in my power to get McCain elected. We did what we could, but in the end it didn’t go our way. So is life. Back to work!

I shook hands with Dana Perino

TWC sent us an e-mail saying our speaker had changed. The last time this happened, it changed from a Congressman to the motivational speaker, so I groaned before I read on. BUT then it said we would be going to the Eisenhower building to hear White House Press Secretary Dana Perino speak to us! So then a lot of other people groaned, but Democrat or Republican, it was truly an honor! She spoke for several minutes and took the rest of the time for questions. I was able to ask her what advice she’d offer to the next President of the United States in regards to the first steps they need to take in the War on Terror. She had just finished talking about Bi-lateral FTA’s, so I was able to squeeze in a work related question about whether she thought the USTR would advance trade negotiations with the UAE and Oman. One of the students tried to sarcastically comment on the low approval ratings of President Bush. She shut him down and said President Bush does not wake up in the morning and ask himself what his approval ratings are; his job is to make sure Americans are safe. Since September 11, 2001 there has not been a terrorist attack. What was even better, at the end of the hour of questions she said she would take pictures with us individually. Considering she is such a busy woman, that was an amazing gesture.

Eisenhower Building

A few feet away from Secretary Perino speaking!

Dana Perino and me

People in DC celebrate Halloween early. We started seeing costumes out several weeks before the actual weekend of Halloween!? Don’t get me wrong I think Halloween is fun, but a few weeks before is a bit ridiculous. The Senior Vice President at my internship told me about an annual Drag Queen Race they have the week of Halloween every year in DuPont. My roommate and I decided to go check it out. I don’t know what was worse, the fact that men were dressed up in heels and costumes to race or how many people turned out to watch them?! It was packed! I saw several “Sarah Palins,” one had labels all over the coat and the other was with her husband and her infant son. A group of men did the Victoria Secret fashion show, you know the one with the big wings?! Hilarious. My other favorite was Princess Diana and her bodyguards. It got really cold, so I only made it through the parade and I missed the high heel race! Nuts?! I don’t think I’ll ever need to go again, but it was definitely worth seeing once.

Drag Queen Race