It's all Jackie Freeman's fault.

Elizabeth Chitwood wasn't particularly interested in politics. Neither were her parents.

"I remember when I was a little kid, they would take me to vote, into the booth," Chitwood said. "And really, that's all I saw, politics-wise, growing up.

"In the fall, we would be a hundred times more likely to be watching football than a presidential debate."

Then Chitwood started talking to Freeman, who was chairwoman of Pulaski County's Democratic Committee when she was Chitwood's 10th-grade history teacher. Then Chitwood went to a few campaign events.

"And then I started phone banking and going door to door," she said. "And I just fell in love with the activity of it.

"And I've been going at it ever since then."

Chitwood, a 22-year-old Radford University senior, has been Pulaski County's Democratic Committee secretary for four years. She's been involved in at least one campaign a year for seven years.

"Most kids go to the movies when they get their license," Chitwood said. "I went putting out yard signs."

At 19, Chitwood took a semester out of her college career to be a field coordinator for Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon. At 20, she was campaign manager for former Del. Benny Keister. This week, Chitwood is in Denver, one of 54 Virginia delegates to the National Democratic Convention.

Freeman got her into that, too.

Chitwood's former teacher sent an e-mail, suggesting that she run for delegate, so she did. The vote came in May, at the party's 9th District convention.

"It was almost like running for student body president," Chitwood said. "Everyone got up and gave their speech, and we voted, and I ended up with enough votes to go to Denver."

Chitwood won another election of sorts. She'll be contributing to a video blog -- a sort of online delegate diary -- for Fox News. The cable channel has a reputation as a Republican Party organ, but Chitwood said the state Democratic Party's press secretary asked her to do it.

"He said most Virginia delegates were pretty hesitant to be associated with Fox News. I said, 'I'll take on the dirty work.' " Chitwood said. "A lot of my Democrat friends, when I've told them, they've made faces and asked me if I was a closet Republican and things like that."

Chitwood has been a Barack Obama supporter since she heard him speak in Richmond in February 2007. But she's officially a Hillary Clinton delegate.

"On the first ballot, I will vote for Senator Clinton," Chitwood said. "Not only because I have to, but it's a testament to her historic campaign that she waged."

Chitwood may wage a campaign of her own one day. She wants to go to law school and stay involved in 9th District politics. But Chitwood probably won't be anybody's paid campaign staffer. She prefers to volunteer, at least in part because of her experience in Keister's unsuccessful re-election bid.

"The next day after Election Day," Chitwood said, "it was kind of a disappointment to be unemployed."