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Since launching KnickerbockerSKD in 2002, New York natives Josh Isay and Micah Lasher have worked with candidates, corporations, unions and not-for-profits as diverse as Procter & Gamble, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids and several City Council members.

Last year was one long-running highlight for the firm, which had a hand in the successful bids of Mayor Bloomberg, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, among others.

Today, with a staff of only four—including Robert Randall, the art and creative director, and Stefan Friedman, who handles communications and PR for the firm—Knickerbocker is one of the leading players on the New York political scene.

They have their lines down, of course: “One of the nice things about doing this is you get to work for good people who you want to see elected,” Lasher said, settling into his seat around a glass-topped conference table in the firm’s SoHo office. Lasher, 24, has been interested and active in political campaigns since he was in grammar school.

With 15 years of political work under his belt, including a stint as Chuck Schumer’s first Senate chief of staff, Isay, 36, said that the name of the game is storytelling—be it in introducing a little-known candidate to the public, or in navigating the public relations minefield of rumors and attack ads.

“You try to figure out the best way to tell a story—which is all we’re doing,” Isay said.

And, unlike some consultants, he and Lasher say they stick to nonfiction. “As long as it’s truthful and relevant,” Isay said. “Voters are smart. They can see through the bullshit.”

He pointed to last year’s district attorney race, when the firm was working with then 86-year-old incumbent Robert Morgenthau.

“He was being challenged based on one reason—his age—and not based on his running of the office. And we were able to, I think, turn his age into ‘experience.’ People saw through [the attack], and said, ‘This is a guy who deserves another four years. He’s served us well.’”

Although Knickerbocker has been a subsidiary of the Washington, D.C. firm Squier Knapp Dunn Communications since 2003, its founders are wholly devoted to local government in New York.

There is, however, a hands-on perk that comes with working locally: getting to support their candidates all the way to their polling places.

“Last year, I voted for a whole bunch of our clients,” Lasher said, grinning. “It’s always fun to be able to do that.”

But the most fun, according to Lasher, is the strategizing: “More or less taking a campaign with the resources they have—not just financial, but also the record of the candidate—and basically saying, ‘All right, how do we get from here in March to winning in September?’ It’s fun figuring out that path, and the targets you have to hit along the way to get the victory.”

In fact, neither seemed sure that any other profession would offer the kind of fun that theirs does.

“Running a bed & breakfast in, like, Vermont,” Isay said. “That would be the only other thing.” Lasher suggested political reporting as an alternative possibility for himself.

In the meantime, they are knee-deep in State Senate campaigns, and their work with labor unions and corporate clients. The partners have no plans to get involved in this year’s statewide races—although it was the last gubernatorial election that brought them together, when Isay, who was running Andrew Cuomo’s campaign for the Democratic nomination, hired Lasher as field director.

But Isay seemed confident in one particular campaign this season: “Eliot [Spitzer] is in all likelihood going to be the next governor,” he said.

Still, he paused and added with a smile, “Give him our number.”