19-Year Old From Soddy Daisy May Be Nation's Youngest Republican Delegate

The Tennessee Valley will be represented by about a half dozen delegates at the Republican National Convention next week.  Many of them left for Minnesota today.

Lauren FairbanksOne delegate will be forced to juggle homework -- as she witnesses history.  Lauren Fairbanks looks like your average college student.  Except, she's not.  "Whenever I put my name on the ballot, I never in a million years thought I'd get to go," says Fairbanks.

The Soddy Daisy native serves as one of Tennessee's delegates to the Republican National Convention.  "The state party actually contacted me and asked if I would be interested in being on the ballot, since I was so young and involved and everything, and I had told them, I would be interested in being one for McCain."

Young might be an understatement.  Fairbanks could be the youngest delegate serving at the convention.  "I just turned 19, so someone could be my age but no younger, so probably so."

Fairbanks will miss an entire week of classes at MTSU and some of her professors didn't believe she's a delegate, asking for proof before excusing her absences.  The McCain campaign issued her an official letter as verification for her teachers.

Fairbanks has always been active in politics, but she didn't really get involved until researching McCain for a high school history class assignment.  "When I was doing the report on him, I realized I really liked him and he had really good credentials with his background as a Senator," says Fairbanks.

She expects she'll be questioned about her beliefs in the days to come, due to her age.  "When they see there are younger people on both sides and not just one side it might give people more of an interest to get involved and see how it goes."

Fairbanks plans to see how it goes, when it comes to politics, not ruling out a future in that field.  For now, she's content to continue her studies.

Fairbanks' parents backed Fred Thompson, but they will still go with her to the convention as guests of other delegates.  She and other local delegates will be filing phone reports with me from Minnesota next week.