Throughout his life, Jake traces his skill in politics back to his milk route days at Little Campus dormitory, where he learns 
to meet people and remember significant things about them and how to organize individuals into a working group. But it is in the area of campus political campaigning that those skills first really begin to take on their future importance. There is a lot of Tom Sawyer in Jake Pickle, and he uses his natural people skills to get more than one fence whitewashed.