WASHINGTON, D.C. From Hubbard to Hutchison, Ohioan is at home in politics

The young Hubbard native has worked his way up the Republican ranks.
HUBBARD -- He grew up in a family of Democrats and once worked for Ralph Nader.
So how did Chris Paulitz, 29, steadily rise through the national Republican Party ranks over the past six years and find himself as the communications director for the fifth most powerful Republican in the U.S. Senate?
Paulitz, a Hubbard native, credits Nader, known as an ultraliberal, for helping him form his political beliefs.
"I got more conservative the longer I was around him," Paulitz said. "He has a good heart, and so do the people around him. We see the same problems, but we have different ways of trying to fix them."
Paulitz graduated from Hubbard High School in 1993. He graduated from The Ohio State University in 1998 with a bachelor's degree in communications.
Paulitz wanted to be a sports writer, and did free-lance work for a few newspapers while in college.
"I never envisioned myself in politics," he said.
Letter to Nader
But after reading a book that included a chapter on Nader's concerns about sports fans being mistreated by team owners, Paulitz wrote to the famous consumer advocate in November 1997. Nader's concerns were the same as Paulitz's: Several team owners insist that taxpayer dollars be used to build stadiums, require fans to pay seat licensing fees, and raise the prices of tickets.
To Paulitz's surprise, Nader called him a few months later and asked him to work in Washington, D.C., in 1998 for minimum wage. The job was reviving Nader's Fight to Advance Our Nation's Sports organization to address the concerns of sports fans, and bring the issue to the national forefront.
Paulitz said he wrote op-ed letters for Nader on the issue, and press releases for the organization.
"I used to speak to him 20 times a day," Paulitz said of Nader.
When Mark McGwire was chasing the single-season home run record in 1998, Nader once had Paulitz watch a St. Louis Cardinals baseball game on television and call Nader every time McGwire came up to the plate.
"Ralph doesn't believe in having a TV so I would call him and he would turn on his radio to hear McGwire bat," Paulitz said.
Spending time in D.C. led Paulitz to decide he wanted a career in politics. He returned to the Hubbard home of his parents, John and Mary Ann, lifelong Democrats, in December 1998 after graduating from college.
"It's so hard to get a job in D.C. without being here," Paulitz said.
So in January 1999, he moved to Washington, and stepped up his efforts to get a job.
Paulitz said he repeatedly contacted the chief of staff of then-U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma, the fourth most powerful House member at the time, and was hired as a press aide.
After a year with Watts, the Republican National Committee hired Paulitz as a deputy press secretary in January 2000. Paulitz primarily served as the RNC's radio spokesman, and was in the middle of the 2000 presidential race's Florida recount that ultimately decided the election's outcome.
During his 37 days in Florida in November and December 2000, Paulitz provided assistance to Republican press advance teams and organized pro-President Bush rallies in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.
From there, Paulitz worked a month on the inaugural committee, and was hired in early 2001 as special assistant to the administrator and a press spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
"The EPA was fine, but there was no focus on anything but homeland security after 9/11," he said.
Paulitz spent a year at the EPA, leaving in December to become spokesman for U.S. Rep. Mark Foley of Florida, who was considering a run for the U.S. Senate.
Paulitz spent two years working for Foley, who opted not to run.
The Hubbard native landed a job in December 2003 with the National Republican Congressional Committee as a press secretary.
At the NRCC, Paulitz's primary responsibility was to serve as the organization's spokesman on behalf of incumbents. Shortly after the 2004 election ended, Paulitz's tenure at the NRCC also came to an end. He left in January.
Before he left the NRCC, he married his wife, Diane, in July 2004. She is a first-year law school student at Catholic University in Washington, and works as the assistant to the president of the Committee for Responsible Federal Budget.
"I found myself in between jobs," he said. "I turned down a few private sector and government jobs. The one thing I hadn't done was work for a senator."
Foley, his former boss, is very good friends with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's served in the Senate since 1993.
"I was looking to move and that's how the ball got rolling," Paulitz said.
Hutchison is vice chairwoman of the Senate Republican Conference, making her the fifth most powerful person in the Senate.
She hired Paulitz as her communications director last month.
"The biggest change is I have direct staff," Paulitz said.
He supervises five Hutchison staffers and five interns.
"This is much more of a managerial role than I've had before," Paulitz said.
While some D.C. staffers stay with one member of Congress for several years, Paulitz said the nature of his work -- dealing with the media and being actively involved in campaigns -- is more transient.
Likely to stay put
But Paulitz sees himself staying with Hutchison.
"I enjoy the policy aspect, but I'm not one to sit back and write legislation," he said. "You can get more done to drive the message home through the media. I want to help someone win an election or work with someone in leadership."
There is speculation that Hutchison may run for Texas governor next year. If not, she is up for re-election to the Senate in 2006.
The hours are long -- typically 12 to 14 a day -- and Paulitz doesn't get to see his wife often because she is also quite busy with work and law school.
"But I need to be in a fast-paced environment," he said. "You're never as idealistic as when you first come down here. The day you don't have that idealism, it is impossible to work here. It's impossible to put in those kinds of hours unless you have that desire."
After leaving Nader, Paulitz kept the two-time failed presidential candidate's name off his r & eacute;sum & eacute;. But he put it back on a few years ago.
"I get strange comments all the time," he said. "But I'm extremely proud of that job. It's where I got my start."