Reality TV pushes Kerry's 'chief of stuff' into the limelight
Marvin Nicholson Jr., the senator's assistant, is amused by 'Staffers' fame
By Bruce Kluger, Globe Correspondent | April 26, 2004
His job requires him to remain anonymous. Yet despite his efforts, Marvin Nicholson Jr. is becoming a star.
As the personal assistant and closest aide to presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, Nicholson is charged with a daily battery of dawn-to-dusk duties designed to keep the senator fed, focused, and on task. (In campaign argot, this is called being a candidate's ``body guy,'' though Nicholson prefers the title ``chief of stuff.'') Ordinarily such tasks would keep him in the shadows of the campaign. But these days, Nicholson, 32, is experiencing regular jolts of Warholesque fame courtesy of ``Staffers,'' the new political reality show that profiles the unsung, behind-the-podium personalities of Campaign 2004. The series airs every third Tuesday at 9 p.m. on the Discovery Times Channel; the next episode airs tomorrow night.
In the early episodes of ``Staffers,'' Nicholson shared screen time with his doppelgangers on the Dean and Clark campaigns during primary season; now that Kerry has a lock on the nomination, the native Canadian has become a series favorite. His name and photo lead the opening credits; in a recent episode, he was featured at full tilt - working the rope lines with Kerry, escorting him to stump speeches, and sating his regular cravings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
``Marvin is funny, smart, and engaged,'' says ``Staffers'' director Steve Rosenbaum, ``but more importantly, through him we get to see a side of John Kerry, the person, that would never make it into the mainstream media. No, making a sandwich for a candidate is not newsworthy. But it is fabulously human.''
Born in Toronto and raised in Victoria, British Columbia, Nicholson found his way to the States after college, following a girlfriend to Massachusetts. Like many other postgrads, he bounced among odd jobs - bartending, lots of golf course gigs - eventually landing in a Boston surf and ski shop in 1998, where he tried to sell Kerry windsurfing equipment. The two men hit it off, and since then Nicholson has been a permanent fixture in the Kerry camp.
Refreshingly modest despite his newfound celebrity (this is, after all, a man who at 6 feet 8 inches is four inches taller than Kerry, but frequently slouches to give the senator the altitudinal edge), Nicholson talked to the Globe about his unconventional role in the Kerry campaign.
Q. The concept behind ``Staffers'' is that you can judge a guy by the people he surrounds himself with. In other words, viewers can learn about a candidate by getting to know his staffers. Would you say that's true in the case of you and Senator Kerry?
A. Well, you have to remember that this is man I met in a snowboarding shop, so we have a very unusual relationship. I've been his driver and his caddy. I'm the first person he sees when he gets up in the morning and the last person he sees before he goes to sleep. We're more like friends than anything else. So, yes, if you're going to judge the candidate by his staff, you can say that John Kerry likes to surround himself with all kinds of people. There are career politicians, there are experts, there are academics. And then there's me.
Q. On the show, you make an effort to play a regular guy whose job is strictly apolitical. But here you are at the heart of a major campaign. Do you care about politics at all?
A. I like to say, ``I don't do the politics; I just make the sandwiches.'' But, yes, I certainly care more about politics than I ever did before. Remember, I spend my days around people who are constantly talking about all these important issues - education, the environment, jobs - and while I'm not there to be a politician, I do hear all the conversations. That kind of access has educated me. It's funny: I used to b.s. my way through cocktail party conversations. Now I can sometimes actually have real discussions.
Q. Word has it you possess a ``Saturday Night Live'' sense of humor. Does Senator Kerry appreciate that?
A. I would hope so. I sometimes think that's the whole reason I'm around: to lighten things up a bit. Like if the day is going rough and everyone's tense, I'll wind up spilling a milkshake on myself, and that will make the senator smile. I don't do this stuff on purpose - it just happens.
Q. ``Staffers'' has featured clips of one particular sport that takes place on the campaign plane: the orange-rolling competition. Once and for all, what's that all about?
A. I'm not sure when it started - I think it was around the time of the Iowa caucuses - but now it's grown into this whole big tournament. The idea is to see who can roll an orange down the aisle of the plane the furthest without it banging into a seat. The senator's gotten pretty good at it, but I'd have to say the reigning champ is our press wrangler, Jim Loftus, who consistently gets it all the way to the back wall. He employs this whole reading-the-green strategy, like in golf. He definitely has finesse.
Q. You've often said you work eight days a week, 18 hours a day. What do you miss the most about your old life?
A. Going out with my girlfriend. Going to the movies. And sleeping! I used to be a professional sleeper - I could go 10 hours straight without waking up. These days if I grab four hours, I wake up feeling like I've had a full night's sleep.
Q. If John Kerry wins the presidency, how do you envision your role in the White House?
A. I'll tell you how I explained it to my mother. I said, ``You know that guy on `The West Wing', that character Charlie [Dule Hill] who's always there whenever the president needs him? Well, that's what I'll be in the White House. I'll be John Kerry's Charlie.''
© Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company |
