High school student runs to represent Obama in Denver

Ever since he was a little kid, Benjamin Goodman watched the Democratic National Convention on television. He’s always wanted to go.

He’s finally old enough to vote, and he’s wasting no time. The 18-year-old Kennebunk High School student hopes to be elected as a national delegate for Barack Obama at the state convention.

He started a Facebook group promoting his campaign. On Friday the group had 131 members.

Another Facebook group which rallies young political junkies has popped up as well, simply titled “I am a Maine state delegate.” It has 34 members.

Goodman first became interested in politics in December, 1999 when he watched John McCain debate.

“I didn’t understand the message but I was drawn to the way he spoke,” Goodman said.

He did some reading, and decided the Democratic Party would best suit him. At age 10, he started volunteering with the local Democratic Party in his town.

In 2000, he followed the Al Gore campaign, which he identified with because his family is Jewish, like Gore’s running mate, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut.

In 2004, he volunteered with the Howard Dean campaign in the Democratic primaries, and then worked with the coordinated campaign leading up to the general election, in support of Sen. John Kerry.

This year, Goodman got involved in the Obama campaign after reading about him in the Boston Globe’s blogs. He was hooked, so he became the state high school director for Students for Barack Obama, rallying the 17- and 18-year olds to get out to the caucuses. He also interned with the York County campaign.

In Kennebunk, he helped organize the town caucus, which 800 people attended. He spoke on behalf of Obama and senatorial candidate Tom Allen. He volunteered to be a delegate for Obama.

Remember, he’s 18. Despite his age, people did take him seriously, he said.

“They saw the active role I was playing,” he said.

He was on the fence about the Facebook group at first. He saw a girl in California do it, so he decided it could work.

“A lot of high school students are delegates,” Goodman said. “I’m overwhelmed by the support.”

He’s gathering signatures to run for a national delegate spot. He’s running for both the slot in his district, and an at-large slot, so he needs 35 signatures from state delegates on each petition.

He said he has as good of a chance as anybody to get to the convention. His young age may even give him an edge – as the party wants more young people involved.

When Goodman gets his diploma, he plans to go to college and study political communication. His first choice is George Washington University.

In college, he said he’d like to work on Capitol Hill – he was a Paige there last summer. When he graduates, he said he wants to work for a political news organization.