Last week I got to visit the epicenter of the Obama campaign: the national campaign headquarters in Chicago. The vast office swarms with a couple of hundred twenty- and thirtysomethings, all of them divided into various groups or divisions of responsibility that fit together neatly, like a giant mosaic. Many of the “as seen on TV” chiefs were visible behind glass-walled offices.

Samantha Fennell on the North Fork of Long Island, scouting an event location I would have thought, with all these young folks ensconced in what seemed like acres of cubicles, that it would be chaotic, or even rowdy—but the opposite is true: It hums. It feels like a really big, well-choreographed opera, but there are no divas belting out high notes. As I heard the staffers like to say, “there’s no drama with Obama.” Enough with the high-arts similes. Why was I there?