Rubbing elbows with presidential hopefuls across the Granite State

One October morning in 1996, I put on a Bill Clinton mask and went to school. Morningside Elementary in Atlanta, Ga., was holding its annual Halloween carnival, and the year's presidential election was only 10 days away. I did my part to help the Clinton campaign effort, shaking the hand of every parent who visited the school that day while sporting my presidential guise.

Ever since that day, I have always wanted to meet the nation's 42nd president.

That opportunity came Sunday night when I was walking down Main Street in Plymouth, N.H., and learned Clinton would be visiting the nearby Lucky Dog Tavern in 20 minutes as part of his campaign efforts for his wife, presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.). After an 11-year wait, I finally met the man who inspired my passionate interest in politics.

The encounter capped off an incredible five-day experience covering the New Hampshire primary for The Daily Princetonian. I got a high five from Michelle Obama '85, wife of presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), when she learned I was a sophomore at her alma mater, which was caught live on C-SPAN. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) was thrilled to meet a fellow Southerner when our paths crossed at Caesario's Pizza Parlor during lunch one afternoon. He told me to let him know if I came across any grits up in New England as a CNN camera filmed footage aired during the network's election coverage.

The journey started at 7 a.m. last Friday, when I drove into the Granite State just hours after the Iowa Caucuses.

My first stop was a Barack Obama rally at Concord High, where I met two Princeton alums who snuck into the event pretending to be members of the press corps.

Together, we secured perfect seats in the school's gym well before the public arrived, and two hours later I shook the Illinois senator's hand as he entered a room overflowing with ecstatic supporters.

The next morning, I awoke to find the back of my head on the front page of The New York Times, at the bottom of a photo showing Obama making his way to the stage.

The crowd that morning was the largest I saw all weekend, but each candidate brought out a reliable cadre of devoted followers. The differences in the demographics each candidate attracted were intriguing, however. Obama's supporters were disproportionately young, Hillary Clinton's largely female, Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) filled with senior citizens and former Sen. John Edwards' (D-N.C.) was a mixture of all three. It was interesting to see how many rally attendees were from out of state, and how often the same people bounced from event to event with me.

My week in New Hampshire gave me a new appreciation for just how grueling running for political office can be. But it also rejuvenated my interest in the political process, reminding me just why my interest in public service started more than 11 years ago.