Perks of Campaign World

So this week is all about experiences I've had. I feel like sharing so here we go. 

   Something great about Campaign World is that when you win, you celebrate. When I say celebrate I mean that we, as organizers, throw the roof off the place. I have been lucky enough to be a part of three winning campaigns in my career and each time was the best experience I could ask for. I love my campaign family. They are amazing and gifted people and there are no other people I would rather take the night with. With three campaigns I have been to three staff victory parties, two inaugurations, two balls, and one staff after party. Each of them was the most fun I have ever had. I'm going to tell you what I can about each and why these things are my favorite.

Region 11 The Morning After the OFA Victory Party (Banez's pic)

   I have got to say that Obama treated us well when it came to post campaign perks. He really did. We had a victory party in Richmond where they provided a place for us to crash literally next to the venue. It was an awesome experience where we all drove out to Richmond from Norfolk carrying everything from our offices, printers, laptops, modems, and desktops, dropped them off in the Richmond office, ran to the hotel, changed, and got together as regions before we headed to the venue across the street. The great thing about my region is that we were Region 11, which consisted of Norfolk, Portsmouth, and Chesapeake, aka the cities that brought it in for Virginia and turned it Blue for Obama. It was a little crazy because we would get asked what region we were and get treated like Kings and Queens when people heard. We danced, we laughed, we listened to a speech about our impending 'funemployment', and we went back to our accidentally acquired Presidential Suite and enjoyed ourselves into the wee hours of the morning. It was an experience I'll never forget. The next morning we hit the wall every campaign hits where you realize you are not going to see these people every day anymore. So we went to brunch at a random Bistro to prolong our time in Richmond.

Crowd Shot (Credit to Me)

   Almost three months later, we came back together for the Obama Inauguration and Staff Ball in January. I road tripped it up with my former Field Organizer. Super entertaining. We stayed with one of the former Fellows who lived in Maryland. The Inauguration was insane. The National Mall was packed with people. I have never seen so many people in one place. I watched President Obama and Vice President Biden take their oaths of office. I listened to Beyonce since the National Anthem and I did this amongst my fellow organizers. We froze our butts off for this. We screamed the loudest. We were the proudest. 

Reggie and I at the Staff Ball (Credit to Reggie)

   Later on, we headed to our very own Ball. I'm not going to lie, OFA staff cleans up well. We all went all out. We, also, got super lucky because "Suit & Tie" by Justin Timberlake came out the week before.  We jumped each other as we found each other in the crowd. We danced. We watched Lady Gaga perform and had a great DJ. VP and Dr. Biden came out and spoke a little. President and Michelle Obama came out and he spoke while she sort of did an interpretive dance. They tried to rush him and he said "No, I can take time for these people." It was amazing. It was the real last time that I saw several of those amazing people as we scattered to the four winds. 

   Let me tell you, if there is a candidate that know how to celebrate a win, it is Terry McAuliffe. He brought us all to Richmond, found a great venue, paid for all the food and drinks, and celebrated with us. It was awesome. This is one of my absolute favorite teams I have worked with. There are few, if any, people who worked for Terry that I did not like. We mingled between regions. We hung with our own. It was an amazing event. I witnessed the Governor of Virginia attempt to dance. I even danced with him with a few of my colleagues. The campaign leadership gave rousing speeches. Terry and his wife, Dorothy, both gave speeches. We stormed the stage a few times. It was an epic night. The next day, there was another brunch. This time at 3rd Street Diner. Another farewell that hurt.    

That's Terry giving a speech in the RAIN (Credit to I'esha)

   Another 3 month gap, though I saw a lot more of these guys in between than the last time, and we reunite for my second Inauguration in two years. So, of course, it rains. For two hours, we all sat in the rain. Watching all our hard work come to fruition. A Democratic Sweep was sworn into office that day. It was amazing. The better thing is when Terry came up to speak the rain let up. It was like a little sign from the Big Guy that we were on the right track. I was more excited for Herring to take his oath to be honest because it had been a fight to get him in the seat of Attorney General with the recount and the potential shady dealings. It was a sweet victory. That night we had the Inaugural Ball. It was not quite as fun as I would've liked. We all dressed up super fancy. Looked amazing. It was definitely more of a schmoozing event than an actual dance ball. We mingled. Took the necessary pictures. I may have avoided people from my past as effectively as possible. Overall, it was nice, but we were in need of some real celebration. Good thing Terry planned a staff after party and provided shuttles.

Team Michion at the Ball

  When the time came it was a mass exodus to the Staff After Party across town. That is when it got really fun. Robby Mook met us there and came on EVERY bus to welcome people as they came. We arrived still in our finest and started the real celebration. The music was loud, food abundant, and drinks flowing. I danced with my home region, Region 6, and of course our neighbors Region 4. I tried with all my might to get my fellow SD 33 organizers to dance. I failed miserably. I definitely danced right in front of them a few times. Terry came and gave his speech. He made his requests and danced a bit. We all had an obscene amount of fun and I'll definitely count that night among the most fun I have had. I was with all my favorite people and I will always love that. 

   For Jennifer Wexton's campaign we were not sure when we would get to go and either celebrate or be together in our sorrow. Insanely, Results were in by 9pm. I got a burst of energy, probably just adrenaline, and changed into some fancy clothes and headed to the venue for our victory party. This was my favorite Victory Party. We walked around. Enjoyed each others' company. Talked about what had happened and what was next. It was just a great feeling. This is my favorite day in Campaign World. We deserved it so much. This was the best team I ever worked with and likely will ever work with. It was so bittersweet the next day when so many of them were leaving for home so soon. I will miss them the most. 

   So that's what it's like to celebrate a win. We have fun. We enjoy each other. We become and are family.