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Slate's Mark Joseph Stern.

He's got what I'd call a love-hate relationship with his home state of Florida.

He grew up in the state capital.

Tallahassee is very liberal.

It's a little blue bubble.

But as soon as you drive outside city limits, you start seeing, like, Confederate flags.

That's like Matt Gates' country.

That's part of where he represents is the panhandle, where I grew up.

As a teenager, he was already becoming a little bit of a wonk.

So when Barack Obama ran for president, Mark earnestly canvassed for him.

I mean, what else was I supposed to do in Tallahassee in the Outs?

Like, there wasn't even a Whole Foods back then.

This was pretty much the only option for fun on the weekends.

He'd go door to door with a clipboard and a list of addresses.

And I was mostly given suspected... He'd go door to door with a clipboard and a list of addresses.

And I was mostly given suspected Democrats or registered Democrats and communities that were known to be pretty blue.

And 17-year-old Mark would make his pitch.

So a lot of people said, yes, of course, I'm voting for Obama.

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