Vilmain, 48, has been a near-legend among caucus operatives since she ran Michael S. Dukakis's Iowa campaign two decades ago at the age of 28. She was raised on Iowa politics, watching as her mother held Democratic caucuses in their Cedar Falls home. With her long skirts and her long hair pulled atop her head, she could be mistaken for an English professor. But she strides into rooms as if tilted against a gale, speaks in the staccato delivery of a ward boss, and never ends a meeting without "action items" for everyone present.
Hmmm, swirling gypsy skirts and an uncut mane in a tidy bun: yes, that is definitely the female professors of English I know. Why didn't they mention Vilmain's shoes? Are they sensible, like an English professor's? I bet they are sensible.
Clearly no mere English professor would ever "stride into a room as if tilted against a gale" or speak forcefully; hence that telling "But." Why not? Too enervated from leading a life of leisure reading, I suppose.