Pillsbury: My Very Brief Life on the 2000 John McCain Campaign

By Lee Pillsbury

I had been a fan of John McCain’s for years when in 2000, after a corporate buyout, I found myself unemployed and foundering while trying to decide what to do next. I took a VERY short term job at the State Senate while shopping my resume. Through one of those friends of a friend of a friend things I got a call and an interview with someone from Senator McCain’s campaign.

I interviewed, hoping for maybe a field director job, and then commenced the wait that anyone who has applied for a job they really want has gone through. And I got the call. I would be working advance for a Presidential campaign. I went to work scouting locations and scheduling events for the campaign that would be moving to Virginia the following week.

Then I got THE call: I was going to be on the bus, the Straight Talk Express! I spent the entire weekend downloading position papers on a pre-broadband 28k dial up connection as well as my instructions for working with the candidate.

One of the instructions for staff included information about a black bag that would be on the bus that contained hair care products. Due to the torture he had endured while a prisoner in Vietnam, Senator McCain could not lift his arms above his shoulders to even comb his own hair.

Soooo, while prepping for him to come to Virginia, he lost the South Carolina primary and then referred to Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson here as “agents of intolerance.” We all know what happened when the firestorm forced him to pull out of Virginia, and his campaign was over for all intents and purposes.

However, he was right. He spoke his mind, and while I got my pink slip, I was proud of his principled stand.

My brush with greatness may not sound like much of a story, but I spent 10 days on a presidential campaign for a man that I will always be proud of having supported. And I would have been proud and humbled to comb his hair.

Lee Pillsbury lives in Henrico with his wife and has been involved in politics most of his life.