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"Hillary Rodham Clinton&amp;amp;#8217;s secret weapons &amp;amp;#8220;Never be afraid to start at the bottom. Just get your foot in the door somehow.&amp;amp;#8221; &amp;amp;#8212;Dawn Smalls, 30, with Kim Molstre, 31 What Kim Molstre does: &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m in charge of Hillary&amp;amp;#8217;s calendar and where she goes,&amp;amp;#8221; says Molstre, director of scheduling and long-term planning. &amp;amp;#8220;She is amazing; she&amp;amp;#8217;s 60 and keeps up a schedule I couldn&amp;amp;#8217;t maintain&amp;amp;#8212;and I&amp;amp;#8217;m half her age.&amp;amp;#8221; Her 13-hour days: &amp;amp;#8220;They&amp;amp;#8217;re fast-moving and fast-paced. I joke that when you start the day you&amp;amp;#8217;ll have an emergency, and by the end of the day you&amp;amp;#8217;ll have forgotten it because you&amp;amp;#8217;re on to the next emergency. Your job becomes your life. You can&amp;amp;#8217;t shut it down.&amp;amp;#8221; How she got the job: &amp;amp;#8220;The first time I met her I was super, super nervous,&amp;amp;#8221; says Molstre, who had held positions with three other members of Congress and who&amp;amp;#8217;d worked on the Kerry/Edwards presidential campaign. &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;d changed my outfit 10 times. We did a little interview, and then she said, &amp;amp;#8216;I&amp;amp;#8217;m so excited that you&amp;amp;#8217;re going to do this.&amp;amp;#8217; I got all giddy and started squealing and gave her a gigantic hug. I walked out and got maybe six paces and grabbed my cell phone to call my mom.&amp;amp;#8221; What dawn Smalls does: All eyes are on the January caucuses in Iowa, and the regional political director coordinates that effort from Clinton headquarters in Virginia. Smalls, who works on strategy and planning, says a good day &amp;amp;#8220;is bringing in a key endorsement or putting together a great team of supporters.&amp;amp;#8221; Why she does it: &amp;amp;#8220;Fifty years from now when you look back and think, Where was I when we were electing the first woman president, I can say I was right here. Where else would I be?&amp;amp;#8221; What her days are like: Things move so fast on a campaign. These are like dog years; in length and intensity, every day is equal to seven days. How she gets through them: I have developed a bad campaign habit: Juicy Fruit. Jill Hazelbaker John McCain&amp;amp;#8217;s press pro &amp;amp;#8220;In my career, I&amp;amp;#8217;ve sought out successful people and asked for their help. Opportunities come from a willingness to ask.&amp;amp;#8221; &amp;amp;#8212;Jill Hazelbaker, 26 What she does: As director of communications, Jill Hazelbaker handles reporters&amp;amp;#8217; requests and gets McCain&amp;amp;#8217;s message out to the media. She starts her day by reading all of McCain&amp;amp;#8217;s press coverage. &amp;amp;#8220;That&amp;amp;#8217;s 70 to 100 stories.&amp;amp;#8221; The upside? &amp;amp;#8220;Media people are a lot of fun.&amp;amp;#8221; Where she does all her reading: &amp;amp;#8220;I get up at 4:30 and run on the treadmill or ride the bike in the gym and I flip through the clips.&amp;amp;#8221; The only time she&amp;amp;#8217;s not on her Blackberry: &amp;amp;#8220;In this job, you&amp;amp;#8217;re on it from when you wake up until you go to sleep. When I get a manicure, it&amp;amp;#8217;s 30 minutes where someone else is playing with your fingernails so you can&amp;amp;#8217;t be on your BlackBerry.&amp;amp;#8221; What&amp;amp;#8217;s in her very large Cole Haan handbag: &amp;amp;#8220;I always have his schedule and a newspaper. I&amp;amp;#8217;m pretty obsessed with the classic Kiehl&amp;amp;#8217;s lip balm. I always have water with me. You spend a lot of time talking to people very closely so I have Altoids. I carry things for the candidate-a comb, hairspray. I usually have a little lint roller to use if I can grab him quickly.&amp;amp;#8221; What she calls the boss: &amp;amp;#8220;I generally refer to him as Senator. It&amp;amp;#8217;s more respectful. Occasionally I call him by his first name. He&amp;amp;#8217;s a casual guy. He likes young people. He&amp;amp;#8217;s up on current movies and, for the most part, music.&amp;amp;#8221; Emily D&amp;#x27;Alberto Rudy Giuliani&amp;amp;#8217;s tv expert I can function in a cab as if I were in my office. I can work anywhere. &amp;amp;#8212;Emily D&amp;amp;#8217;Alberto, 31 What she does: &amp;amp;#8220;If anyone in TV wants something, they reach out to me,&amp;amp;#8221; says Emily D&amp;amp;#8217;Alberto, the candidate&amp;amp;#8217;s director of television. &amp;amp;#8220;I get calls at 9 P.M. asking for [an interview] tomorrow at 7 A.M. If a news story breaks, they want to talk to him.&amp;amp;#8221; The frustrations of a newbie: &amp;amp;#8220;This is my first political job. If someone had told me I&amp;amp;#8217;d be doing this, I&amp;amp;#8217;d have said you&amp;amp;#8217;re crazy. I was approached by the campaign. As a producer at CNN, I was the person determining how a story would be shaped. Now sometimes I forget I can&amp;amp;#8217;t tell [a reporter] this is what they should be asking. It&amp;amp;#8217;s been a rude awakening.&amp;amp;#8221; Why she does it: &amp;amp;#8220;I love the mayor. I always say Rudy&amp;amp;#8217;s my guy. I come from a big Italian-American family. I was [in New York] on 9/11 and witnessed firsthand his leadership on that day and in the days and months afterwards. I wouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t have left what I was doing for anyone else but him.&amp;amp;#8221; Sally Canfield and Mindy Finn Mitt Romney&amp;amp;#8217;s influencers &amp;amp;#8220;Make your bosses shine. You&amp;amp;#8217;ll be recognized for it&amp;amp;#8212;and they will go the extra mile to see you advance.&amp;amp;#8221; &amp;amp;#8212;Mindy Finn, 26, with Sally Canfield, 36 What Sally Canfield does: &amp;amp;#8220;I help the governor develop his message on issues like health care,&amp;amp;#8221; says policy director Canfield. &amp;amp;#8220;The coolest thing is to have an idea and work it through and then see it in the papers. You see the quotes&amp;amp;#8221;&amp;amp;#8212;either her own or the candidate&amp;amp;#8217;s&amp;amp;#8212;&amp;amp;#8220;and you think, Oh, that was good.&amp;amp;#8221; Her impact on the candidate: &amp;amp;#8220;[We] have very lively discussions. We argue back and forth. Sometimes I have to step back and think, This person could be president and I&amp;amp;#8217;m telling him I don&amp;amp;#8217;t like that idea.&amp;amp;#8221; What saves her on the road: An eyeshade and earplugs for bad hotel rooms. And whatever makes you feel good, like your favorite pair of pants or a pedicure. What Mindy Finn does: &amp;amp;#8220;The governor is extremely tech savvy,&amp;amp;#8221; says Finn, Romney&amp;amp;#8217;s e-strategist. &amp;amp;#8220;And his sons&amp;amp;#8217; Five Brothers Blog is one of the most popular on his campaign site.&amp;amp;#8221; Finn runs Romney&amp;amp;#8217;s Web operations and oversees the task of snaring voters, volunteers and donations online. What she gave up: &amp;amp;#8220;I put my new consulting business on hold.&amp;amp;#8221; At the start of the job, &amp;amp;#8220;I was commuting between D.C. [where she was living] and Romney HQ in Boston, sleeping on a friend&amp;amp;#8217;s couch and using my car as a closet.&amp;amp;#8221; (She&amp;amp;#8217;s since found an apartment.) Her looooooong day: &amp;amp;#8220;I go online starting at 6:45 a.m. and try to be offline by 10 p.m. My team and I look at hundreds of thousands of blogs and news sites every day. I drink a lot of Fresca. I buy groceries and bring them to the office because I eat most of my meals there. We work in the traditionally Italian North End of Boston, so for an indulgence I&amp;amp;#8217;ll go get a little cannoli.&amp;amp;#8221; Kathleen McGlynn John Edwards&amp;amp;#8217; go-to gal &amp;amp;#8220;Always prioritize, be organized and don&amp;amp;#8217;t be afraid to make decisions.&amp;amp;#8221; &amp;amp;#8212;Kathleen McGlynn, 28 What she does: &amp;amp;#8220;I manage about 100 people here at headquarters&amp;amp;#8221; in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, says chief of staff Kathleen McGlynn. &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m the go-to person when we&amp;amp;#8217;re handling a crisis or figuring out the next steps to take. I keep the wheels turning.&amp;amp;#8221; Her first taste of politics: It was as a newborn: On the way home from the hospital with her, McGlynn&amp;amp;#8217;s parents stopped to vote. Her father is mayor of Medford, Massachusetts. Weirdest not-on-the-resume duty: &amp;amp;#8220;I had to chase down one of Elizabeth Edwards&amp;amp;#8217; bras. We lost a bra she&amp;amp;#8217;d signed for a breast cancer charity and we spent a couple of days trying to track it down. Every time I sent Elizabeth an e-mail, I cracked up as I was writing the subject line: Missing bra. We finally found it and sent it to Iowa.&amp;amp;#8221; Why she works from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day: &amp;amp;#8220;Friends think you&amp;amp;#8217;re crazy and the pay isn&amp;amp;#8217;t very good, but I feel strongly that I&amp;amp;#8217;m doing the right thing because I want to see John Edwards elected.&amp;amp;#8221; What keeps her fueled: &amp;amp;#8220;I stop at the coffee shop-I probably visit three times a day-and get a grande skim latte. Every night we have 10 to 15 boxes of pizza in the conference room for staff and volunteers. It&amp;amp;#8217;s really hard to eat well on the campaign. Sometimes it&amp;amp;#8217;s 3 o&amp;amp;#8217;clock and you realize you haven&amp;amp;#8217;t had lunch yet.&amp;amp;#8221; Her trick for doing it all: &amp;amp;#8220;Not blow drying my hair-when I can get away with it. That saves a full 15 minutes!&amp;amp;#8221; Alyssa Mastromonaco and Eureka Gilkey Barack Obama&amp;amp;#8217;s right hands &amp;amp;#8220;Attitude is everything. I truly believe you can get through almost any challenge in life with a positive attitude and a good laugh.&amp;amp;#8221; &amp;amp;#8212;Eureka Gilkey, 32, with Alyssa Mastromonaco, 31 What Alyssa Mastromonaco does: Where will Barack and Michelle Obama be at any given moment and how will they get there? Ask Mastromonaco, director of scheduling and advance. &amp;amp;#8220;I try to make sure their time is used as efficiently and effectively as possible.&amp;amp;#8221; She tries to schedule the candidate so that he travels from east to west, picking up an hour or two as he goes. &amp;amp;#8220;I am at my desk almost all the time. A map with pins is behind me,&amp;amp;#8221; marking where the Obamas have been. Her biggest goof: &amp;amp;#8220;I [arranged for] a private plane to pick him up and I signed the contract for the wrong day. I got hysterical. My phone rang and it&amp;amp;#8217;s Barack and I think he&amp;amp;#8217;s going to yell at me. He said he&amp;amp;#8217;s on a United flight, and he&amp;amp;#8217;ll make it to the event on time. He&amp;amp;#8217;s like, it&amp;amp;#8217;s no big deal. If you&amp;amp;#8217;re not working for someone who you think is a great human being, it&amp;amp;#8217;s not worth doing.&amp;amp;#8221; What Eureka Gilkey does: There are 500-plus chapters of Students for Barack Obama, just one of the grassroots groups that the national deputy political director oversees. She spends &amp;amp;#8220;hours and hours on the phone&amp;amp;#8221; lining up supporters. &amp;amp;#8220;If we weren&amp;amp;#8217;t human, we could stay in our chairs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.&amp;amp;#8221; Why Obama&amp;amp;#8217;s her guy: &amp;amp;#8220;He&amp;amp;#8217;s very upfront about his Christian faith. He&amp;amp;#8217;s very much a family man, and I think he&amp;amp;#8217;s a great role model&amp;amp;#8230;especially when it comes to being a responsible father. I think that come January 2009, if he&amp;amp;#8217;s elected, the future of children of color in this country will change, the thought process will change about what they can be and what opportunities they can have. That&amp;amp;#8217;s a powerful message that we send not only to our children but to the world.&amp;amp;#8221; She&amp;amp;#8217;s never without&amp;amp;#8230; &amp;amp;#8220;A red leather-bound Bible; inside is my late grandfather&amp;amp;#8217;s handkerchief. It&amp;amp;#8217;s always in my purse.&amp;amp;#8221; Karen Hanretty Fred Thompson&amp;amp;#8217;s spokeswoman &amp;amp;#8220;Have the confidence to do jobs bigger than your present circumstances. Play big or go home. &amp;amp;#8212;Karen Hanretty, 37 What she does: &amp;amp;#8220;My mom still doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t get what I do for a living,&amp;amp;#8221; says deputy communications director Karen Hanretty. &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m a spokeswoman for the campaign, and also I help craft the candidate&amp;amp;#8217;s message. A lot of it is taking complicated issues and making them easier to understand for a sound bite or as a way of communicating with ordinary people.&amp;amp;#8221; Her take on Thompson: &amp;amp;#8220;He&amp;amp;#8217;s got this bad rap that he doesn&amp;amp;#8217;t have fire in his belly. Reporters have created this idea of the Fred they think he ought to be, and he never has been.&amp;amp;#8221; Instead, she says, &amp;amp;#8220;he is very measured and takes his time to think about what he&amp;amp;#8217;s going to say. Fred Thompson rarely overreacts. I don&amp;amp;#8217;t think he says many things he regrets, and that&amp;amp;#8217;s a virtue. This is a man in charge.&amp;amp;#8221; A job well done: &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;m most satisfied after I&amp;amp;#8217;ve done a great live interview. There&amp;amp;#8217;s something about being in the chair, your mike is on, you can&amp;amp;#8217;t stop and start over, you can&amp;amp;#8217;t walk away, and you get the question you weren&amp;amp;#8217;t expecting and you just nail it.&amp;amp;#8221; What keeps her up at night: &amp;amp;#8220;It&amp;amp;#8217;s nerve-wracking sometimes. As a spokesperson, if you help [your candidate], no one will notice. If you harm him&amp;amp;#8221;-for example, by saying something that makes him look foolish-&amp;amp;#8220;you will spend weeks or months repairing the damage.&amp;amp;#8221; If they could see her now: &amp;amp;#8220;I&amp;amp;#8217;d like to find the school counselor who thought I wouldn&amp;amp;#8217;t amount to much.&amp;amp;#8221; Now she has a job &amp;amp;#8220;most people never get to do.&amp;amp;#8221;"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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