Text by John P. Martin
Photos by Shawn Thew
Video by Craig Cola
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Spend a few days with campaign workers in one of Virginia's hottest races and see politics at its grass roots. Behind the candidates are legions of political nomads, students and retirees, paid and unpaid. They discover that campaigning means marching, dialing, driving and hours upon hours of licking, sticking, stuffing and sealing.
Steve Beaudry, a paid campaign rookie from Cleveland, works 14 hours a day planting signs, running errands and booking the schedule for Democrat Leslie Byrne, who's battling to unseat Virginia State Sen. Jane Woods (R-Fairfax).
"A lot of people think it's a 9-to-5 job," says Beaudry, who collapses each night in the Arlington basement of a Byrne supporter. "Really, you're working 24/7 – right down to the wire."
Then you're out of a job.
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