Jews campaign in New Hampshire
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jake Honigman says it's easier than raising money for Jewish causes. Emily Silver says its addictive qualities postpone the nice Jewish husband scenario for which her mother hankers.
Plumping for candidates along New Hampshire's frozen byways and among its famously irascible voters is, for some young Jewish activists, the best life there is this political season.
With U.S. Jews split among the seven Democratic candi-dates, almost every campaign has Jewish staffers working at jobs from the very top to the very bottom. Their enthusiasm - and little else - carries through hundreds of monotonous campaign tasks.
Honigman, 21, would have been content campaigning for Howard Dean for nothing, but his skills as an organizer means he gets paid, albeit not much.
"At this point, these jobs are great, because they're not permanent, but you get some responsibility," he said. "They're intense. It's a lot of work, but it's a good time."
The "good time" Honigman enjoys as an area coordinator presumably takes into account the frequent hang-ups he gets when he calls his new neighbors - and the answering machines that warn campaigners not to leave a message.
It's par for the course, says Honigman, who once raised money in New York for the United Jewish Appeal in phone campaigns.
"This is nothing compared to that," he says. "That was a lot worse."
Across town, Silver plots strategy from the relative comfort of a minivan while her candidate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.), cam-paigns door to door.
She used to travel with the candidate, but now she mostly runs the show from her desk, sometimes juggling calls on her office and cellular phones at the same time.
Silver, a Brandeis Uni-versity graduate who first came to New Hampshire in 2002 for a congressional campaign, has been with Lieberman's operation for more than a year. She has seen it swell from two people to the more than 30 who are working inside now.
It is hard for Silver to explain to people outside the "bubble" of campaign life why she loves long hours, with no weekends or vacations, and constant stress.
"It's addictive because you feel you're doing something useful and you're making a difference," she said.
"The lifestyle is so crazy," Silver says. "My mom would like to see me marry a good Jewish boy and settle down."
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