One thing for sure is that Joe Biden commutes to DC everyday from Wilmington. I would think that most "insiders" live in DC.

Commuting long distances daily tends to cut commuters off from a lot of the interactions going on in the city where they work as most of the action and deal making (read: "insidering") takes place after work.

In 1993, I stayed at Representative Crane (R)-IL home in Virginia. I knew his daughter and she made arrangements for me and my then partner to "stay with daddy."

Representative Crane went home to his district that weekend.

So I hung out with Mrs. Crane. We didn't pay for food all weekend long as we ate at lobby events because the food was free and the events always had free goodies. I would think that commuting back to Wilmington daily, a lot of these lobbyist functions would be missed.

Contrarian, extraordinaire