This Senator’s Job Posting Could Let You Live Out Your Dream Of Becoming Michael Scott

In a tweet Friday morning, Sen. Bob Casey referenced The Office while advertising a new job listing for his office. The Pennsylvania Democrat announced that he's looking for a new regional manager for his Scranton office, and posted an image from the popular television show while referencing one of its most long-running jokes

"Yes, I'm looking for a Regional Manager in Scranton," Casey wrote. "No, I'm not looking for an Assistant to that Regional Manager." Attached to the tweet is a gif of The Office's Michael Scott character, played by Steve Carell, holding a mug reading "WORLD'S BEST BOSS" with the caption "I think that about sums it up" underneath.

The Office ran on NBC from 2005 to 2013, and was based on the British series of the same name. The American version took place in Scranton, and much of the show focused on the relationship between the Scott character and his right-hand man, Dwight Schrute (played by Rainn Wilson). Although Schrute's official job title was "Assistant to the Regional Manager," the character would regularly refer to himself as "Assistant Regional Manager," thus implying that he was further up in the company's chain of command than he actually was. This was a running gag in the show, and with his tweet Friday, Casey capitalized on it.

Casey was first elected to the Senate in 2006, when he defeated then-Sen. Rick Santorum by a whopping 17 points. Although broadly liberal in his views, Casey is distinctive as one of the few Democratic politicians who identifies as "pro-life" — although it's worth noting that, despite this label, Casey was given a 100% ranking by NARAL Pro-Choice America for his 2016 and 2017 votes.

After Casey cruised to reelection in 2018, winning by 12 points in a state that voted for Donald Trump two years earlier, some speculated that he might mount a run for president in 2020. On Friday, though, Casey dashed those hopes.

"With all of these challenges confronting us and with our Commonwealth playing a potentially decisive role in the 2020 vote, I believed it was important for me to at least consider the monumental undertaking of running for President," Casey said in a statement. "After two months of considering it, I have concluded that the best way for me to fight for the America that so many of us believe in is to stay in the U.S. Senate and not run for the presidency in 2020."

The Office's "Assistant to the Regional Manager" joke, which it lifted from the British series, was wildly popular. There's an entry for it at Urban Dictionary, a shirt with the words printed on it at the official NBC store, and even a question at Quora that addresses the nuances of the two different job titles. Given that Casey is actually hiring an assistant regional manager in the same town where The Office took place, referencing the show was a no-brainer — an easy way to draw attention to what would have otherwise been a dry listing for a managerial position.