Junior league: the novice politico who's taking on Eleanor Holmes Norton.

• Author: Peters, Justin
• Position: 10 Miles Square

As budding politicians go, Michael Monroe's main advantage is that he's got the look. The 25-year-old Republican candidate for Washington, D.C.'s congressional seat might not have the experience, of the money, or the ideas. But he's got the look: coiffed blonde hair, deep-set, earnest eyes, even a slight cleft to his chin. From head to me, he looks like he was born to cut ribbons at grocery-store openings, to press the flesh at shopping malls and Kiwanis Club pancake breakfasts. It's almost enough to make you believe Monroe when he argues, very sincerely, that he's got a legitimate chance at knocking off Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District's non-voting, yet wildly popular, seven-term delegate to the U.S. Congress. "My plan will be clear and the end goals will be clear. She'll see that this isn't just some kid with his name on the ballot, this is a serious Republican contender," he implores, looking at me guilelessly. "People say it's crazy; it's impossible--but the only thing impossible would be not to try."

We're sitting at a table in the back of Chef Geoff's, a restaurant in downtown Washington which functions as the de facto campaign headquarters for Monroe's long-shot bid. It's 6:30 p.m., right before the dinner rush, and the clubby oaken-paneled restaurant is mostly empty, with pockets of early-bird elderly scattered around the dining room. Monroe has worked at Chef Geoff's on and off since graduating from James Madison University in 2001; he is currently, the restaurant's marketing director. Chef Geoff himself is a Democrat, but Monroe assures me that he'll cross party lines come November--"He's a swing voter." Sitting around the table are some key Monroe supporters: high school friends Quincy Waldron and John Corrigan, D.C. Young Republicans representative Jenny Lee, and Ed Garrity, a mysterious young man in a three-piece suit who won't say what he does and who eyes me coolly when I am introduced as a journalist.

By and large, this appears to be the brain trust of the campaign, which at times feels more like an overly serious campaign for student council than an under-resourced race for congressional office. Of course, that's a hard feeling to shake when the candidate just turned 25 years old in August. Far from trying to hide this fact, though, Monroe trumpets his youth. "I think I'm the youngest congressional candidate in the nation," he notes proudly. On the other side of the table, Garrity shakes his head. "Florida," he states...