Introduction by Matt Albrecht:

I majored in History, which I think was a great preparation for this sort of thing. I took a lot of political science courses too. I was the editor of the Tripod, which was another good experience for this because a lot of my time currently is spent dealing with the press and so it was a good thing to learn about. I was the president of the inter-fraternity council, which I thought was a very good experience in terms of coalition building, politics and dealing with people who don’t like you.

When I was in high school I had an internship with a politician, an assemblyman in NJ, and that sort of got me interested in politics. And then when I was in college I had an internship for the same guy, who had moved up in the world and became a county executive. I liked politics but when I got out of college I was like many people, I wasn’t entirely sure exactly what I wanted to do. Then the Mondale campaign sort of came up and it seemed like a good thing to do at the time, seeing as I didn’t have much else to do.

I think you have to be willing to work very hard. In politics and government the pay is not great and the hours are very long. You really have to have an appetite for a lot of work. You have to get along with people, and you have to have a lot of skill dealing with different types of people at all levels. The experience I had at the Tripod as it helps to be a good writer and have some facility in all of that. It helps to have a historical background, the world changes quickly and rapidly, but this place has been here for over 200 years and it is useful to have that perspective; that we all come and go here, but it keeps going on.

I get here about 8 in the morning, I have to read a lot of newspapers; I flip through them quickly. We have a staff meeting about 8:30 and then my boss (Dick Gephardt) probably has a meeting every ½ hour to 15 minutes all throughout the day and I go to probably half of those, then I have 6 or 7 meetings of my own. I probably get 100 phone calls a day from members of Congress, press people, Whitehouse people; it just never stops. This is a typical day when the House is in session. The staff will be here until about 5, 6 or 7 at night and I am usually here until 8. It is usually an 8 to 8 day, and there is just a lot of activity. Between the phone and the meetings, it just never stops.

Yes, we have about 40 people who work here and we also have an outside office that does a lot of our fundraising and politics, we have an office in St. Louis which is where his district is, and we have an office in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee which is the organization that tries to get us in the majority; so there is a lot of people and my job is to make sure that all of those offices work together and that he has everything that he needs to get through the day. When he is not here he is on the road all the time and there is just a lot going on.

I think the biggest change since I started in politics is the media and the proliferation of media outlets. Both the cable networks and the flow of information have sped up so much in just a few years. I think the Internet will now play a bigger role. It used to be that your day centered around what was in the morning papers, and how to get something in tomorrow morning’s papers or the networks news. And now, every hour there is another news outlet that you can potentially get in and on and change the terms of the debate. It speeds everything up very rapidly which has it’s upsides and downsides and I think as time goes on I think it will get even speedier because I think the internet will become more of a means of communication both for politics and other things as it grows and more people have access to it.

Most, it is never boring. It is a job you can get up every day and it’s always different and you are at the center of politics and government. If you like finance, Wall Street is the center of finance. If you like movies and television, Hollywood is the center of that. If you like politics and government, this is the place to be and the Capital is sort of where, one of the focal points is in the House, and where it all happens. It is not boring and it changes every day, that’s the best part. The worst part is probably the hours are long and it is not a career you choose to make money in. You are never going to get rich doing politics or government.

You have to be smart, obviously that’s true of anyplace. A capacity for work that is pretty endless. Flexibility; this is not a good place for people who are sort of rigid and need a lot of structure because there is so much going on. Things are coming at your from different directions so you need a sort of demonstrated need to be intellectually nimble, deal with a lot of things at once, and, you really have to want to work very hard.

I think internships are the best thing you can do to sort of get exposed to this world and get involved in it. The job market here is very competitive and a lot of people who get out of college want to come to Washington and do this. When I look at resumes what I often look for is evidence that you have any interest in this beyond just wanting to do this now. It also helps to have an internship at home and it helps to have tried an internship here. I think there are two things I would advise: (1) try to get an internship in Washington working for a member of congress or any sort of organization down here; and (2) try to get some experience at home or in Hartford doing political work in a campaign because that skill is ultimately important, particularly in terms of the Capital Hill part of the Washington political job market. These guys have to get elected every 2 years so they are all looking for people with political skills who have worked in campaign. Generally, it is not hard to find campaigns at home that would like to have volunteers. The problem is that they generally don’t pay, and that can be difficult for people, because the market is so competitive; but, it just gives you something to put on your resume so that when someone picks up your resume they see the evidence that you worked interning in so-and-so’s office.

I never did anything in Washington but I interned in NJ where I am from with an elected official. The other part of this is that it is a constant networking thing. You have to meet a lot of people, so I met a tremendous amount of people. The way I got my job on the Mondale campaign was from meeting someone who I had worked with on an internship. The way I have gotten almost every job since, in Washington was through people I met on the Mondale campaign. For someone who is interested in politics, a presidential campaign is sort of the apex; and presidential campaigns have an insatiable need for young people who can travel around the country doing things. If someone were looking for a first job in politics, even at the lowest level, I would advise them to go to work on a presidential campaign. You meet so many people, so quickly, that it really helps you in your future career.

It’s a big thing. The more people you can meet the better.

The most important thing is to know what you want. You need to come into an interview with a sense of why you want the job and why you are qualified for the job. And one of the most important things to know if you are interviewing in the political world, and it is surprising that people show up without knowing this, you need to know whether you are a democrat or republican. I have had people come to interview and say "…well I just sort of want to come to Washington and I haven’t really decided yet", that is fine if you want to do something else, but if you want to work for a member of Congress they are all either democrats or republicans so you need to figure that out first, and you need to stick with it. If you get hired initially by a democrat that’s what you are going to be, so you better figure that out. Obviously, when I look at a resume I usually look at whether they have any relevant experience to what we are doing here; where they went to college; and what they majored in, but what they majored in is not as critical, I majored in History and that doesn’t translate that much. Any liberal arts degree can prepare you for an entry-level job down here. I didn’t learn anything in political science that I, frankly, thought was particularly relevant. This place is so different than what you read about because it’s all about the people who work here everyday. It is useful to know about the structure, but long term, it doesn’t do you that much good. So whether you major in philosophy, religion or politics I don’t think makes that much of a difference. It’s are you smart, do you have the ability to work hard and do you have some relevant experience to get you in the door. Getting in the door is the hardest part. You can run around here for weeks with resumes and never get yourself in the door. You have to have something on your resume that shows previous interest and you have, hopefully, networked so you can find somebody to get you in the door. Sometimes people when they look for a job get shy about using a connection or using a way to get in. Don’t ever. Everybody does it. If you come down here and you went to Trinity College, you should get a list of everybody that went to Trinity College and call them all. You cannot be shy about this. You have to use any way you can to get in the door to see somebody, even if it is someone your mother or father knows, because it is a very competitive environment.

Unless you are going to be a doctor, a lawyer, an investment banker or something where there is a very quantifiable set of skills you need to perform your job, I think, as most of my experiences have led to me to believe, that most of anything you major in and learn in a liberal arts college is all about teaching you how to think and teaching you just sort of a general background on the world and so I think anyone with a solid liberal arts education will do well. If you are going to be an enforcement attorney at the Securities and Exchange Commission, then you ought to go to law school and learn about securities law. But, an awful lot of jobs in government and politics are really about your people skills and ability to think and work hard and if you can do that you can figure this out.

I have learned a tremendous amount from being there about myself and sort of relating to other people. I thought it was a great experience. It did not help me particularly in the job market simply because in the field I am in there are not al lot of St Anthony’s brothers; I think that’s because most of them are republicans. But, in terms of preparing for life, I thought it was a great experience.

That’s a tough question. When I was at Trinity I was very active in a lot of things, as I mentioned, my fraternity and the Tripod and a lot of other things on campus; but, I was not as active academically as probably I should have been. I think if I had devoted myself more to academics it would have helped me further down the line.

Politics is a great career, its not really a business and government is not really a business, it is something you do because you believe in something and you want to do it. If that is what you want to do, it is a great career because it is interesting and always changing. There are a lot of opportunities. Washington is not a city you can come to and get rich. You can work in government for a long time or politics for a long time and be comfortable and still get up in the morning and be happy about going to work; and, at the end of the day, that is the important thing. If you are going to do something for 20, 30 or 40 years, it is helpful to like getting up in the morning to do it, so I strongly recommend you do it if you like it.