In it, he wrote the story of her decision to postpone her final semester in college to volunteer for the Bradley campaign and detailed her rise from a volunteer who clipped newspaper articles to a volunteer assistant to Eric Hauser, Bradley's press secretary.

As Hauser's assistant, Lawlor traveled with the campaign and supplied logistical support to members of the media assigned to follow the candidate.

As Benedetto wrote, "Working with a bunch of political reporters, photographers and camera crews on the road can be an ordeal. We tend to be a demanding, cranky bunch. We complain when there aren't enough press releases to go around. We moan when the candidate is behind schedule, running us up against filing deadlines. We grouse about the food, the hotel accommodations and the dearth of telephone lines in filing centers.

"Much of that truculence was directed at the demure, somewhat shy Lawlor, even though she had little control over the things we were grumbling about. She represented the campaign on the press bus, so she became the target. Everywhere, it was Janeen this, Janeen that.

"Through it all, she listened patiently, did her best to address the complaints and kept smiling as she made her way down the aisle handing out schedules.

"Her dedication to her unpaid job was complete. Eighteen-hour days on the road were common. Time was always at a premium and her tasks were many, including making sure everyone was on board before the bus pulled out. Last week, while Bradley was making a speech at Brown University, Lawlor was sitting on the floor in the back of the hall, stapling together the next batch of handouts."

So, why did Lawlor choose the bumpy life on the campaign trail instead of staying snug in the cocoon of campus life?

"When it came to issues, I agreed with everything Bill Bradley said. His personality and integrity were obvious. It gets you excited about politics again, about the possibility for change," she says.

Initially, Lawlor went to Bradley headquarters in Manchester, N.H., for a two-week volunteer stint. With her background as a communication major, she was immediately assigned to the press office.

"I really had a lot to consider when the national press secretary asked me to go on the road. It meant leaving school for a semester," she says.

In the end, the lure of being at the very heart of a political campaign was irresistible. "It was a chance to be in the bubble all the time," Lawlor says.

So, instead of studying for exams and thinking about graduation, Lawlor found herself coordinating details with Bradley's senior staff people and members of the Secret Service and, of course, dealing with the national press.

"To be in college one week and then to have the opportunity to get to know respected members of the national press the next was a tremendous opportunity," Lawlor says. "I realized I could take night classes in the summer and still be able to graduate with my class.

"With the campaign, there was no typical day. Different things happened all the time. I'd hand out schedules, work on press releases a couple of times a day and do just about anything senior staff asked. It was a great traveling road show.

"Basically," she says, "I found that, if I could get to a fax machine, I could do my job. It helps that I'm stubborn and not someone who gives up easily. If I had to run down the road to get the job done, that's what I did. People got used to this 22-year-old bursting into their businesses saying, 'Hi! I'm with the Bradley campaign. Can I use your fax machine?'"

Super Tuesday, when 16 states held primary elections or caucuses, was particularly memorable, she says.

"I had no idea there were so many little things that had to be done," Lawlor says. "We had to make sure the sound system worked; we had to be sure all the reporters had their laptops sniffed by the Secret Service sweep dogs; and we had to make sure all the reporters arrived on time. These are national reporters, and they expect to be allowed in wherever the candidate is going to appear. To get in, they had to have a special pin and I was the keeper of the pins. It meant I got to know members of the press corps very well."

Making friends with the press was easy, Lawlor says. Liking everything they wrote was harder.

"You're with the press all the time and you get to know them as real people. They were all very nice to me, but then, I'd see some of the things they wrote. I had to learn it was okay to like the person and not agree with the tack they took in their story."

That sense of respect worked both ways. Benedetto wrote in his column that when the press corps learned that Lawlor would be celebrating her birthday on the road, they all chipped in "and bought her a tote bag at Nordstrom's to replace the ratty one with the broken strap she had been lugging around."

After Bradley's concession speech, Benedetto noted "...that bag was lying across her lap as she sadly watched the crowd file out. 'It's as empty as it's ever been,' she said...'I can actually zipper it up.'"

"The end of the campaign was very emotional for lots of reasons," she says.

"First of all, I really believed Bill Bradley was the right person for president. It was hard for me to let go of all that. Then, there's the fact that you just invest so much of yourself into a campaign--all those 18- and 19-hour days--and it's suddenly coming to an end--not to mention all these people you've grown attached to that you may never see again."

Still, Lawlor says, she wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. And, it led to an offer to work for Eric Hauser at his Washington public relations firm, the Hauser Group, which specializes in helping promote causes with a nonprofit, political leaning, such as the Millennium March on Washington, D.C. She took the job in the fall after completing her coursework during the summer.

"The campaign taught me that I always want to be doing things that make a difference," she says.

As Benedetto concluded his column, "If only more young people believed that."