As I said in a recent MPSIMS thread, the late Senator Paul Simon (D-IL) got my vote in the 1988 presidential primary (and that was the only state he won :().
So who got your first vote, and in what election? You can include school elections, like Homecoming royalty and class president, if the event was significant enough for you to remember. (Side note: If you ever ran for school office, did you vote for yourself?)
Paul Tsongas in the 1992 presidential primary here in Minnesota.
Ron Reagan in 1980.
But you gotta remember two things;
1> The alternative was more Jimmy Carter.
2> I was 18 years old.
1990 Massachusetts Governor’s Race
John Silber, the one-armed bandit of B.U. It was done with great feelings of misgiving, and looking back, Bill Weld (who won) was most likely the better choice.
First Pres. election was for Clinton in '92.
Hey, that was my first vote too. Not in Minnesota, though.
Clinton
Harry Browne.
Arnold.
Janie Kelsey for 9th grade Queen.
Barry Goldwater, over LBJ.
McGovern (1972). Then I voted for Carter (once) and Reagan (once). Right now it looks like I’ll probably vote for Dean in the Democratic Primary and GWB in the General Election.
John Anderson in 1980. Carter was a sucky president and I hated Reagan (with good reason, as it turns out), so I went for the third party guy.
This year’s Louisiana governor’s race. I voted for Kathleen Blanco.
George W. Bush in 2000.
I didn’t worry too much about my vote, since Bush was a lock here in Texas with or without me. But if I had it all to do over again, I would probably write in Donald Duck or something…
School election: in 4th grade we had some kind of mock-prom election and had to vote for a king and queen. I voted for Jim and Jackie (I remember their names and nothing else). The winners were Porter and Connie. Lots of kids voted for them thinking they’d be a perfect couple because…they were cousins! Fourth-graders, it must be said, don’t always get the point.
Then again, neither do college students. To wit, my vote for…
President: George H.W. Bush, in November 1988 against Dukakis. Started kicking myself pretty early in 1989.
I voted for Gore in the 2000 presidential election. It was the first election I was old enough to vote in, and wouldn’t you know it, it was the big one!
1992: Dennis Black, for President of the Student Council. He ran on a “rid the school of tainted meat” platform.
1995: Coral Houle, Mayor of Bloomington, Minnesota.
Clinton in 92. The day I turned 18. In fact technically I voted a few hours before I turned 18. I don’t recall if anyone else was on the ballot.
Voted Nader in 2000. Hey, Gore carried NM with about 500 votes, so don’t look at me.
Michael Dukakis. And if I had it all to do over again, I’d vote for Michael Dukakis. I didn’t get to vote in the primary, though. On principle, I registered independent. By 1992 I’d registered Democratic, and voted for Paul Tsongas in the Pennsylvania primary. I only mention my second vote because I think it’s odd that there are so many Tsongas voters on this thread. I mean, at the time of that election, I’d never even been to Massachusetts, much less felt any connection to the place. I don’t remember why I went with him, anymore.
Rosemary Gunning.
If you’ve never heard of her, I’m not surprised. I turned 18 in 1979, an off-year for elections in New York. The biggest office on the ballot that year was for my local state assemblyperson, and I voted for incumbent Republican Rosemary Gunning.