Just got a thank you for submitting your resume but we can't offer you a position. I worked really hard on my cover letter but it was the best that I could have asked of myself. The position was as a legislative and communications aide for a public official.  I checked out the profiles of their staff and thought I had a shot. One of their staff members worked in a lighting company and didn't really have any experience in public office. Maybe it's because I didn't go to an ivy league school. I don't know.

Update: Googling the public official, I located a more detailed job posting for the same position on a listserv and boy, was I over my head...I wasn't qualified at all. The original job posting I found on NYU political department/jobs section omitted some important deet's. (a good source for poli-sci majors. One drawback however is that some positions are outdated and not maintained all that well.)

In any event, there is another position that I've got my eye on. Not to gush, but this is sort of my dream job: research, writing, responsibilities....

I'm going to work on my cover letter and resume (again) and hope for the best. I'm applying to everything and anything that seems interesting to me now. So instead of putting all my hopes on one position, I'm just going for it now...

By the way, I did send a 2nd email to the editor of that place where I freelanced (no response) as well as to that temp agency (no acknowledgement). If I didn't have such thick skin, these unprofessional responses by "people" might have bothered me.