How young were you when you first became politically interested?

[Wat_Tyler]

And when were you first actively involved?

For me, my parents were radicals, so I was used to going on marches as a kid. My first active work was on a by-election in November 1991, when I was fifteen. I was a pretty political kid.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

1. Easily six or seven

I'm Puerto Rican. Politics is our national contact sport.

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

2. When I was 6 years old ...

I remember telling everyone in my first grade class what the President's Cabinet was - and it was not used to store China or expensive plates ;)

[Nicholas_J]

3. About eight

I was doing stuff for the Kennedy campaign when I was eight. I was more heavily involved in the Robert Kennedy campaign when I was a teen. zby the time Iwas seventeen, I was being hauiled in with protestors to the Vietnam War.

[flamingyouth]

4. I was in my stroller during anti-war marches in 1970

And I remember the 1972 election and "helping" my mom volunteer for the McGovern campaign (although at almost age four, I'm not sure what my exact tasks were).

[miss_kitty]

12. I was there too

May the 5th, 1970 TDA! skipping high school though.

:hi:

[Susang]

18. That's so fucking cool

Got any pictures? }(

[flamingyouth]

20. Probably somewhere

However, my family is not known for its organization of photos, to put it mildly. :D

[Susang]

24. Did they put stickers & stuff on the stroller?

That would be sooooo cute! ;-)

[yellerpup]

5. 1960. JFK.

My parents were conservative republicans. I became really involved in the civil rights era, MLK, Bobby, Malcolm X. Loved LBJ & his accomplishments in the War on Poverty and Civil Rights. My attachment to these issued caused a lot of friction and ultimately alienation at home. Oh yeah, age 12.

[CO Liberal]

15. Same Here,but I Was Seven

And my parents were Democrats who also supported JFK. I was the only one in my second grade class who wanted Kennedy to win - I was so happy when he did.

And so sad when he died - I was ten at the time...

[huskerlaw]

6. 10 years old

1988...Michael Dukakis all the way!

[hollywood926]

In 1976...my sister faked sick on election night...

And mother took her to the ER and left me with a neighbor. I was 9. I couldn't sleep, so I stayed up all night and watched the election returns, completely fascinated by the process. My neighbor came downstairs and made me some tea and went back to bed. She couldn't believe I was still watching that.

I didn't care who won, but I knew there was something important going on.

[Gardeaux08]

13. 1976

That was the first Presidential election I have a memory of. I was five and for some reason I thought Carter and Ford were going to have a ping pong match to see who was President!

[Gardeaux08]

7. I remember

lecturing my classmates at lunch when one of them said if they could vote, they would vote for Reagan because he looked better than Mondale. I said looks don't run our country and few other choice things. So that was 1984 and I would have been 13. I had a Mondale Ferraro poster in my bedroom. :)

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

8. 1996

When I was 9.

Clinton's re-election.

I remember thinking Bob Dole was one hell of an ugly guy, and that Ross Perot looked like Gonzo.

[miss_kitty]

9. my parents were active

and I've said on this board before, I boycotted Welch's Candies (Sugar Babies and Sugar Daddies) on my own, at the age of 6, because Robert Welch was the head of the John Birch Society.

Precocious, me.

[rurallib]

10. 10 with JFK

1960 - not sure what you'd call active, talk mostly then with adults trying to persuade in my own little way. Vietnam - very active in high school then on campus.
Middle 70's to 2000 raising the family so only minimal activity until *** inspired me once again. He's the best recruiter that AlQuieda and the Dems have.

[Beware the Beast Man]

11. I was a political late-bloomer

I've always been apathetic and left-of-center, but it wasn't until this year that I became politically active. I guess I just was tooo young and immature to care!

[eyesroll]

14. I went to the voting booth with my mom when I was 5

(She voted John Anderson.)

I attended things here and there throughout my school years, including (horrors) a George the Elder rally in 1988 (I got out of school to do it, though). I tried to volunteer for Clinton in 92, when I was 17, but the local office never called me back.

I've only been a true politics junkie since college, and only as immersed as I am now since 2000.

[KurtNYC]

16. I declined the Pledge in 2nd grade

The story spread like wildfire. Little freepers would come up to me on the playground and say "are you the kid who won't say the pledge?" and then deck me. About 2 weeks into the debacle, there was an assembly at the High School and about 40% declined the pledge there allegedly due to the story of me.

[dryan]

19. Always political.....

met Adlai Stevenson when he ran in 1956

[Karenca]

17. 49

yes, 49.

[Cobalt Violet]

21. When the radical right started going after the NEA.

:-(

[Mabus]

22. Parents were precinct committee people

So, I've basically grown up around people who have been active in the political process. It started when I was about three and my parents became precinct committee people for the Democratic Party. JFK was in office at the time.

The trigger for my involvement was seeing my parents' reaction to the deaths of RFK and MLK in 1968. They were RFK supporters and up until then politics was something that didn't seem tangible. After Bobby was shot my parents walked around in shock for a while. My older brother understood more than I did what was going on. He was also shaken by Bobby's death (he was 14 at the time). He was the one that pulled the rest of us kids together and said we needed to help out if we were going to help change the world.

I started making phone calls, helping to stuff and lick envelopes, and helping at precinct committee meetings (mostly "meet the candidate") when I was about seven. My dad is a vet from the Korean Conflict. Mom was a WAC. My dad had seen combat (two tours) in Korea and had lost a lot of friends. They were both opposed to Viet Nam and they encouraged us to write letters (in our childish scrawl) to our congressional reps. They got us braclets with the names of MIAs and POWs which were somewhat controversial at the time.

I'm in my 40's now and still going strong.

[tridim]

23. Two stages.. Watergate and Bush I

I didn't really know what Watergate was at the time (I was 4), but I did understand why Nixon resigned and the image of his face was burned into my brain as "a bad man".

Then, throughout high school I didn't give a rats ass about politics. All I cared about was girls and art. Bush I was elected the year I went off to college and I finally started paying attention again. By 92 I was a full blown progressive and political junkie because I grew to despise Poppy during his 4 years. The rest is history.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

25. Eight Years Old...

My mom took me to the front of a rope line to shake RFK's hand when he was running for senator from New York...

[Champ]

26. Didn't really get involved til I was about 16.

I've actually always been interested but only to a point.

[Menshevik]

27. When I was in first grade and Bush was running against Dukakis

We had a mock election in our classroom, and a few nights before that I had listened to my parents talk about the election and they said they were voting for Dukakis. So I voted for Dukakis, and it turned out I was the only one in the class of 40 that voted for him...everyone else voted for Bush because, according to one of my classmates, "Dukakis had a bright red nose." It was a bad picture, I guess...

When I was in 7th grade my mom took me to a protest...the leader of the Michigan Militia was speaking (it was shortly after the OK City bombing) in our town and NOW and some liberal groups went out to protest the guy and all the right wingers that went to see him.

[bunny planet]

28. 14 years old and marching against the Vietnam War. That's why Kerry will

always be a hero to me.

[GOPisEvil]

29. When I was 4, I asked the following about the Democratic Nat. Convention:

If it's the Democratic Party, why isn't there a cake?

So, early on. :-)

[arwalden]

30. 1977... I Was A Young Republican

<<shivers>>

[bloodyjack]

31. First developed an interest (albeit superficial) in politics when I was 7

or 8 or thereabouts, and I think that's when most people do.

As for political involvement...participated in an anti-fur rally outside a Neiman Marcus when I was 14. You can be sure none of the shoppers told ME to "get a job" :-]

[Sequoia]

32. I was in 2nd grade when

I went on a weekend stay with this elderly lady. We watched the whole JFK ordeal as it unfolded live on TV. We are baking apple pies and she told me how important this event was and how tragic that our leader had been killed. When Jack Ruby shot Oswald on live TV I was astonished. If I had stayed at the boarding school that weekend I never would have seen any of that.

[mcscajun]

33. 1960...

My younger sister and I made up a cardboard sign supporting the Democrat running in the Bronx election, Charles A. Buckley. I can remember we walked up and down near the high school (the local polling place) yelling "Vote for Buckley." On edit: I don't think he particularly needed our help; he'd been our representative since 1935. Don't think we knew or cared about electioneering restrictions near a polling place, either. :)

I was all of nine; she was not quite seven.

Then I got really active in 1968 in the run-up to the conventions and marched against the Vietnam War through my early college years.

That was the most active I'd been until the run-up to the War on Iraq; I picked up a full head of steam and it hasn't slackened since.