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A youthful member of the pack
Date: Saturday, February 7, 2004
Location: Richmond, Virginia
Place: John Kerry rally
Rachel and I are both waiting for a tardy John Kerry at a rally in Richmond. For a month I've been the youngest reporter on the campaign trail, but today I'm put in my place. Rachel is 16 years old.
When she was 12, Rachel covered the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles for the Children's Express, which later went bankrupt. "I think it was the name," she jokes.
Rachel believes she was born to be a journalist. In fifth grade, she started her own newspaper. Since then, she has written and photographed everything from politics to pro football.
When I ask Rachel for her favorite story, she recalls a feature story she wrote about a girl in school who was fighting depression. "It was kind of mind-blowing to hear what someone like that goes through. It kind of expanded my horizons."
Today, Rachel is all business as she pores over the Kerry campaign's latest press release. She may have relied on her parents for a ride to the rally, but the young journalist is as poised and professional as any of her older peers.
In Rachel, I have found yet another person on the campaign trail who impresses me. How many 16-year-olds investigate depression or travel 90 miles to cover presidential politics?
Utterly unimpressed by herself, Rachel is surprised when I begin to take notes. She asks at first that I use neither her last name nor her picture. We compromise on the picture.
Next stop: The Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner
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