A conservative blogger I know started a meme examining the milestones of her life in relation to the presidential elections.

I picked up the meme, with a bit of a different focus (her blog is mostly about her Christian faith).

A REVIEW OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS OF MY LIFE:

1972: Richard Nixon

I REMEMBER: Nothing about this election.
I WAS: three and a half years old. One of my few memories from the late fall of 1972 is my older sister explaining to me that while other kids believe in Santa Claus, we are Jewish and we know there's no Santa Claus.
DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I remember sitting on our family room floor, watching Nixon announce his resignation. I started to understand the concept of elections when my mom ran for school board in 1973 or 1974. The rest of my family helped distribute fliers and yard signs. She won!

1976: Jimmy Carter

I REMEMBER: Not knowing whether to hope for Gerald Ford or Jimmy Carter to win, because my dad was voting for Ford and my mom was for Carter. I learned later that my parents canceled out each other's votes in every presidential election they both voted in, beginning in 1952 when my dad liked Ike and my mom was "madly for Adlai." My two oldest brothers voted for the first time in 1976 (for Carter).
I WAS: in second grade. I won an election to represent my class on our elementary school student council. I won because in my class three boys ran, but I was the only girl candidate, so all the girls voted for me.
DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I became more aware of what was happening, in my family and in my community and in the world. I also started following the news enough to understand when Senator Dick Clark (D) of Iowa was defeated in 1978, but not enough to understand what his opponent was talking about when he kept bringing up the Panama Canal.

1980: RONALD REAGAN

I REMEMBER: My dad was an early supporter of Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee on the Republican side, and was dismayed when Reagan won the nomination. My mom couldn't decide whom to caucus for on the Democratic side. She was unhappy with Carter but had reservations about Ted Kennedy. She thought about caucusing undecided, but Jerry Brown was urging his supporters to caucus as uncommitted, and she didn't want people to think she was supporting Brown. In the general my brothers who were old enough to vote went for Barry Commoner (Citizens Party) and John Anderson (moderate Republican who ran as an independent after losing the primaries). I found out more than a decade later that my Republican dad had secretly voted for Anderson in the general too. I also remember being aware that Iowa rejected the Equal Rights Amendment for stupid reasons, like fear that it would require unisex toilets in public places.

I WAS: in fifth grade during the primaries, and I represented John Anderson in a classroom debate. The boy who played George H.W. Bush got the most votes. I didn't follow the general election campaign nearly as closely, because my mom died in the summer of 1980. I remember very clearly the day our sixth grade teacher told the class that someone had shot the president. My dad and I watched the news for hours that day.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I had a bat mitzvah (rite of passage for Jews), completed elementary and junior high school and started high school. I became much more politically aware and didn't like anything Reagan was doing on any front. I was excited when Iowa Democrats nominated Roxanne Conlin for governor in 1982 and disappointed when she lost.

1984: RONALD REAGAN

I REMEMBER: preferring Gary Hart in the primaries and being generally pessimistic about Mondale's chances after he won the nomination. I was so proud and excited when he selected Geraldine Ferraro as a running mate, though. That was a big deal to a teenage girl. I knew Mondale would probably lose but was not prepared for the scale of the defeat.

I WAS: a student at Valley High School in West Des Moines. I can relate to the young Republicans out there who feel outnumbered by Barack Obama fans, because my friends and I were definitely out of step with the conformist Reagan-loving majority at Valley.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I became very close to a core group of high school friends, who were all outside the mainstream. Many of us were ethnic or religious minorities as well as political outsiders. I'm still in touch with some of them. I finished high school and left Iowa to go to college on the east coast. I was excited to try living in a different part of the country.

1988: GEORGE H.W. BUSH

I REMEMBER: During the summer of 1987, I had seen a lot of Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa (including Joe Biden in an Urbandale living room and the whole field debating at the Iowa State Fair). My boyfriend and I did some volunteering for Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. In the fall of 1987 I took a bus up to New Hampshire on a Saturday to volunteer for Simon there. My brother and I flew back to Iowa to caucus for Simon in February 1988. It was exciting but planted doubts in my mind about the fairness of the caucus system, for reasons I described here. I wasn't the biggest fan of Michael Dukakis, but I was optimistic about his chances in the summer of 1988 and watched in disbelief as everything unraveled that fall. (Iowa did go for Dukakis, though!) I was very down about the prospect of a Bush presidency, and he confirmed my fears for the most part.

I WAS: in college.
DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I loved college and made some very close friendships. I broadened my horizons and learned about subjects that were even more fascinating to me than American politics. I jumped at the chance to go to graduate school in England after I finished college in 1991.

1992: BILL CLINTON

I REMEMBER: liking Paul Tsongas best in the primaries but not being able to do anything about it, since I lived abroad and there are no absentee ballots in the Iowa caucuses. Not that it mattered, since Tom Harkin was running for president and everyone skipped Iowa. I also remember being so shell-shocked by the elections of the 1980s that I never believed Clinton had a chance. Watching the British Labour Party blow a lead during the UK elections in the spring of 1992 confirmed my belief that conservatives always found a way to win. I didn't follow the American election that closely, beyond reading the International Herald-Tribune and making sure to request an absentee ballot so I could vote for Clinton. I didn't believe opinion polls that showed Clinton ahead. I stayed up all night with a group of friends (American, Canadian, and British) to watch the U.S. returns come in on the BBC. I was stunned when Clinton won.  

I WAS: in graduate school in England at the time of the election.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: In grad school I met the man I eventually married, but we embarked on a long-distance relationship when he got a job in London and I moved back to the U.S. to take my first "real job" (not counting summer jobs in high school and college). In less than a year I realized my job wasn't a good fit. I decided not to look for another job in the U.S., but to move back to Europe so my boyfriend and I wouldn't be separated by an ocean. In between quitting my job in the U.S. and finding a job in Europe, I came back to Iowa and volunteered for Bonnie Campbell's gubernatorial campaign for two months. The outcome of the 1994 elections confirmed my desire to leave the country. I found a job in Prague and moved there in early 1995.

1996: BILL CLINTON

I REMEMBER: being surprised that the Republicans nominated the one candidate who had the least chance of beating Clinton. In fact, I lost a bet with my dad, who had a better understanding of how the GOP worked. The terms of the bet were: he won if the GOP nominated Dole, I won if they nominated anyone but Dole, and if Dole was forced to withdraw for health reasons, the bet was off. Because of my job, I was engrossed in the Russian parliamentary and presidential elections of 1995 and 1996, so wasn't following the American campaign closely. Also, my television only received Czech networks, and my Czech wasn't very good, so I hardly watched anything besides the 1996 Olympics. I did make sure to get an absentee ballot and mail it in, although I wasn't worried about Dole beating Clinton in Iowa or nationwide.

I WAS: in my mid-20s, living in the Czech Republic.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: My boyfriend and I decided that nearly four years of a long-distance relationship were enough, and we wanted to see each other every day. He spent a year in Prague, and I decided to quit my job and go back to graduate school in England. I didn't get much academic work done at first, though, because the unexpected death of my father and its aftermath overshadowed 1999, and I spent several months of the following year being preoccupied with our upcoming wedding (in September 2000).

2000: GEORGE W. BUSH

I REMEMBER: being very engaged in this campaign. Even though I was living abroad, and again engrossed in Russian election campaigns of 1999 and 2000, I was also following the American news closely. I supported Bill Bradley in the Democratic primaries (which I regret), because I was unhappy with the Clinton administration's record on labor and environmental issues. I hoped that John McCain would beat George W. Bush in the GOP primaries, even though I believed McCain would be a tougher candidate for us to beat. I had an instant loathing for Bush the younger, much more intense than any dislike I had for his father, and I thought McCain wasn't too bad for a Republican. I had very low hopes for Al Gore and might have voted for Ralph Nader if I had voted somewhere like Texas or Massachusetts. Instead, I filled out my absentee ballot for Gore and begged one of my friends in Iowa not to vote for Nader (I failed to persuade him).

I WAS: in my early 30s, living in England.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I finished graduate school, and my husband and I moved back to Iowa to start a family. I had a son and was thrilled to be able to stay home with him. I got involved with various non-profit organizations, taking my baby/toddler with me to many meetings and political events. I also met some new friends through moms' groups. Within a year or two my husband and I were sure we didn't want to move anywhere else.

2004: GEORGE W. BUSH

I REMEMBER: liking Bob Graham and wondering why no one else thought he was a great candidate. He was experienced, smart, voted against the Iraq War resolution, and had won five statewide elections in Florida. After Graham dropped out months before the Iowa caucuses, I settled on John Kerry despite concerns that a Massachusetts liberal might be unelectable. I respected his very strong environmental record. I was a precinct captain for Kerry, even though it seemed impossible in the fall of 2003 that he could beat Howard Dean. I also volunteered for the Kerry campaign during the general election. I believed Kerry would win Iowa because he seemed to be exceeding Gore's vote totals everywhere. I was crushed when Bush was re-elected and especially that we failed to deliver Iowa for Kerry. We exceeded our vote goals, but the campaign underestimated how much turnout would increase in 2004 and consequently how many votes they would need to carry the state.

I WAS: in my mid-30s and living in the Des Moines suburbs. I had started lurking on a bunch of political blogs, but I rarely even wrote a comment, let alone a diary.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: We had another son and became more settled in our community. We never doubted our decision to come back to Iowa, which was a relief to me, because I wasn't sure how my husband (who grew up on the east coast and lived abroad for 13 years) would adjust to life in the American heartland. I stopped following Russian politics closely, because a certain KGB creep wrecked everything that used to be interesting. As a result, I started writing occasionally about American politics on blogs, just for fun.

2008: BARACK OBAMA

I REMEMBER: spending a lot of time advocating for John Edwards as a blogger and a precinct captain, which didn't work out too well on caucus night and in retrospect seems like it wasn't the best use of my time. I found my voice as a state blogger after Drew Miller invited me to write on a daily basis for the Iowa progressive community blog Bleeding Heartland. After Edwards dropped out of the race, I tried to make Bleeding Heartland a space where supporters of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton would feel welcome (although I used to joke that it was the last bastion of Obamaskepticism in the Iowa Democratic blogosphere). I volunteered mostly for down-ticket Democrats during the general election campaign.

I WAS: in my late 30s, a full-time mom of two and "freelance activist" for various causes in the Des Moines suburbs.

DURING THAT FOUR YEARS: I hope Obama will govern as a progressive, but I fear that "the change we need" isn't going to look much like the change I want to see in our country.

I hope some of you will write about your own timelines, either in the comments or in separate diaries.