Our panelists talked a lot of ways to be involved with campaigns and elections—not just as a candidate, but also as a volunteer or staffer. Could you see yourself as a politician, in a support role? Compared to our panelists, how do you think you would approach your campaign?

• Even though working as a staffer wasn’t particularly highlighted during the panel discussion- my car group had an interesting discussion pertaining to the matter on the way to lunch. We thought that the staffers may be more influential in policy making than the actual candidates themselves. A lot of the candidates have various backgrounds (a lot of them are not schooled in politics) but their STAFFERS are! These people are mostly college students who intern over the summer, and these students are studying political sciences and such.  On a trip to Washington DC I took with my family a few years back, we got to have a private audience with governor Mike Pence (who is a very close family friend) and we were taken down secret tunnels and such that the general public doesn’t get access to (because naturally, we were running late). And going behind the scenes on Capitol Hill, I realized that it was the staffer’s job to make sure that everything runs smoothly, and without their enormous contributions I don’t think our senators/ representatives/ etc. would be able to function like they do. So even though it is a lot of work, I could see myself as a staffer- because I think that they hold the glue that keeps Washington together.