Few folks know this, but I actually got into politics -- and blogging -- working for Gary Hart. I read Richard Ben Cramer's awe-inspiring What It Takes, liked this cerebral politician felled by personal indiscretion, noticed he had a blog, and signed up for e-mail updates. A few weeks later, a young organizer named Kevin Thurman called and asked me to join an exploratory effort for the 2004 campaign. I couldn't have been more excited. Fast forward a few months, to the day before Hart announced he wouldn't run for president. I had planned some events for him in Northern California, and would have to drive him from a speech at Berkeley to a fundraiser in San Francisco. I was thrilled. I had also never made that drive in rush hour, nor pitted my stick shift against the San Francisco hills. By the time we got there, we were late, and Hart was visibly irritated, and my car smelled like toasted transmission fluid. But through it all, Hart was much as I'd hoped he'd be: Brilliant and worldly and, to a college student, totally impressive. And even now, years later, when I've met dozens of other politicians, watching him on BloggingHeads still makes me feel a bit like an excited undergrad who's just finding out that politicians are real people who will occasionally speak to you.
