Now 18, Pazell is heading to Denver this week, among the youngest of more than 4,000 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, where he will cast a vote for Sen. Hillary Clinton. It's another step for the politically ambitious teenager who plans someday to hold a federal office.

"Because of my history and activism, I just don't see myself going any other way," he said.

After the convention, Pazell will head to Washington, where he will work for heavily favored Sen. Patty Murray's re-election bid as a field organizer in the Seattle area, and he may go to work on the senator's staff.

Pazell didn't grow up in a politically active home. His father isn't registered to vote and his mother didn't vote until he ran for election.

But he said he always had a sense of civic involvement and got interested in health care policy when his grandmother was diagnosed with emphysema.

"I guess I've always had a sense of activism," he said. "If nobody stands up and makes a point, you can't complain about anything."

That was what motivated him to run for Copperton Town Council two years ago, because he opposed an effort by Kennecott to acquire the land where the old Bingham High School sat, and was concerned that the Council was stacked with former Kennecott employees.

He won the election, but couldn't be seated on the Council because he wasn't 18 years old, as required by law. He ran again when he was 18, but fell a few votes short.

"It's really hard to be taken seriously at that age," said Pazell, who may be the third-youngest delegate at the convention (there are two 17-year-olds.) "People don't think I'm as informed as I should be. People aren't aware that this is what I do. This is my job."

Before he was working full-time in politics, Pazell worked as a barista at Starbucks.

His first campaign job was a volunteer spot, working to help re-elect his legislator, Republican Rep. Merlyn Newbold, in 2006.

He offered his help this year to Democrat John Rendell's campaign to knock off Sen. Chris Buttars and ended up running his campaign until recently.

"He's a bright, motivated kid who was able to organize a lot of events early on and really helped jump-start my campaign," said Rendell.

Pazell also helped with get-out-the-vote efforts for Hillary Clinton in Iowa and ran Clinton's caucus push in Wendover, Nev.

It was on a campaign stop in a small town in Iowa that he said that he got a two-hour meeting with Clinton and two other staffers, a session he says has been the highlight of his political career thus far.

"I idolize her and her husband," he said. "I really do think they are great people and great politicians. I believe they are statesmen."