One of the things I find most interesting about O'Donnell is that she has spent her entire adult life trying to break into Beltway society. She briefly worked for the RNC, she briefly worked for CWA, she briefly attempted to start a lobbying organization (the failed SALT), she has agreed to appear on pretty much any cable talk show as a pundit-for-hire, she worked briefly for ISI until they fired her. Then she spent seven years as a full-time candidate for public office. Since she dropped out of college she has doggedly sought political fame in any way she could.
it's pretty funny that someone who spent almost 20 years trying to become an insider is now representing herself as the consummate outsider.
I recommend reading the text of her leftist lawsuit against ISI. It gives us a lot of insight into her thought process. According to her own court filing, she laid awake every night for months after her firing reliving the incident in her head until her mother and sister persuaded her to seek psychiatric treatment. She was 34 years old at the time.