er a member of congress you often have to compromise to include not only the interests of his or her state, but also those organizations that are important to him and the people who elect him. On top of having to gain support from the members of congress the Office of National Service (ONS) had to do it in an inconspicuous way. The ONS members couldn't just go up to the senator or representative for a state and say "this organization will be upset if you don't vote for our proposal." They had to make the organization care enough about it that they would feel compelled to let their congress-member know their opinion on the legislation. This lobbying for support along with an intricate process of gaining influential supporters in each party was a slow process that couldn't necessarily guarantee victory.
             As shown throughout Waldman's book crunching numbers became the
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