Carl Federl asked L.E. Modesitt Jr.:

Thanks for your response. For real life politics, the US Congress has 100 senators, 435 representatives, 6 delegates, 12,500 official's staff, 6,000 committee staff, 3,000 at Library of Congress and 3,000 GAO. Then add State, County, Township and City officials and a Congress persons must know thousands of people. From your experience, how many people did you know by name when you were on the congressional staff?

L.E. Modesitt Jr. As the staff director of a Congressional office, I knew by name the roughly 25 staffers and interns I supervised, perhaps thirty Representatives and Senators by face and name [those who actually knew who I was], the lead staffers (2-3) in possibly fifteen other congressional or senatorial offices, and the key committee staff members on those committees on which my Congressman served. Add to that the lead staffers on the groups and caucuses to which my Congressman belonged (four, as I recall), and the state political party leaders back in Colorado. I was also expected to know and interact with important business, military (substantial military assets in the district), and political figures in Colorado, and occasionally elsewhere.

I had to have at least a nodding awareness of every member of the House of Representatives and of several hundred other people as well.

And my job was to run his office and staff, not to be a political operative.

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