Having Fun at the Heart of the Keystone State

Every Tuesday and Thursday are the days that I get to completely immerse myself in the heart of Pennsylvania at the state capitol in Harrisburg.  There is not a day that goes by that I do not get to learn more about campaign life and or learn more about Planned Parenthood while I am in Harrisburg.  Though Mandee, my intern-partner, and I do not work in the capitol building itself we are less than 30 feet across the street in the campaign office of Robert Teplitz for Senate (PA-15).  The campaign office is in a cute store front where instead of people coming in they simply stare at the campaign signs that are in the window and stare at the four of us in the campaign office until we make eye contact.  It is always refreshing to have someone actually come in and ask who Teplitz is so we can break the hums of computer keys and inform them about what Rob Teplitz stands for and what he hopes to do if elected.

            These last eight weeks we have been laying down a pretty good foundation for the campaign by number crunching and sending out mailers. Our daily tasks included completing donor research and occasionally during the week having impeccable assembly lines for mailers to get stuffed, labeled and stamped as quickly as possible.   It is very interesting watching how campaigns work and function with the tremendous amount of hard work and organization that the campaign manager, Victor Wills, and financial advisor, Andrea Berringer, put in on a daily bases.  

           
My last week of the internship has been quite busy being as though the events that we were preparing for in June were all coming up.   One event was on Saturday with the Admiral and Former Congressman Joe Sestak in the garden area behind the campaign office while the other was on the following Wednesday with Former Congressman Patrick Murphy.  Both events were equally pleasurable and it was great seeing the hard work come to light.  I actually met two people that I actually looked up to invite to the event!

      Though donor research and mailers are time consuming they have their purpose in every campaign and I know that the Teplitz Campaign truly appreciated.  I love getting the opportunity to work on a campaign where I could be exposed to so many different facets of it. I know I enjoyed working on the Teplitz campaign and I can say would still like to help out any way I can. 

- Comfort Dixon, Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates in Harrisburg