LEEDS - If Scott Kauffman could never go to another Red Sox game again, he'd be sad but he wouldn't crush him. The same for the New England Patriots. And the Celtics.

But tell him he couldn't pound campaign signs into the lawn or work 21-hour days for his favorite candidate, and he'd be shattered.

"If I couldn't be involved in politics, I'd definitely lose sleep over it," he said. "It's one of those things where it's just in you."

Raised by Republican parents, Kauffman, 48, always considered himself a Republican. (He voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980, his first election.) As an adult, he became more and more fascinated by politics until, in the late 1980s, he became involved in the Republican Party at the town level. Then at the county level. Then state.

He's now vice chairman of the Maine Republican Party.

"To be able to be a part of something and to watch it grow, watch it perfect and watch it become what it should be, that's kind of exciting," he said. "You know, I hate to say it, but I'm the classic person that always roots for the underdog. I always want to take somebody who (is told they) can't do it and be there to help them to do it."

Sometimes that "help" means hammering campaign signs into the ground or handing out fliers. Other times it means offering campaign advice or working nearly around the clock at campaign headquarters. Over the last 20 years, he's worked on various local and state campaigns, legislative campaigns for U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, and a presidential campaign for U.S. Sen. Bob Dole.

Because Kauffman oversees auto lending in Maine for Wells Fargo during the day, he indulges his passion for politics at night, on his days off and via cell phone.

"It's a lot of work for a lot of no pay," he said.

Kauffman is exuberant about politics, a giddy, fast-talking kind of excited - and he likes candidates whose own passion matches his own.

"They sometimes try to cater to the audience that they're speaking to instead of just speaking from who they are. If you speak from who you are, people will pull into that and it'll resonate throughout," he said. "I really think people want to elect people of passion."

This political season, Kauffman will attend the Republican National Convention as a delegate. He'll work on U.S. Sen. John McCain's bid for president and Collins' re-election campaign. And he'll do anything he can for Republican state Senate candidates.

"As vice chair you find yourself going around the state quite a bit because people want help," he said. "Listen, if it means driving four hours, I'll drive four hours."