University Place Woman One of Washington's Delegates at Democratic National Convention

Robyn Stevenson's political activism began with a bus ride.

The bus - carrying husband Kent and other soldiers assigned to 555th "Triple Nickel" Brigade - was leaving what was then known as Fort Lewis in 2003 en route for Iraq.

The couple was only a few months removed from giving birth to their second daughter at the time. For the next year, Stevenson's husband would be overseas.

"That was the time that it hit how important it is to choose our leaders, who we choose, how we vote," Stevenson tells Patch. "Seeing him leaving, seeing the bus pull off. It was heartbreaking."

"From that moment on, I’ve been politically active," the 42-year-old said.

That political activitism will culminate at the Democratic National Convention, Sept. 3 to Sept. 6, in Charlotte, NC, when she will be one of Washington state's 121 delegates.

The person whom the Democrats will nominate will be no mystery, as their candidate is currently sitting in the Oval Office.

Still, Stevenson, a stay-at-home mother of two and active volunteer with the Tacoma Rescue Mission, considers her opportunity to represent the state an honor.

"It's overwhelming," says Stevenson, who must raise money to pay her own way to the convention.

Stevenson might not have realized it initially, but being a Democrat might run in her system.

She is a native of Hot Springs, AR, which is the hometown of a guy named Bill Clinton. In fact, her grandmother used to babysit Roger Clinton, the former president's brother. Also, Bill Clinton's mother, the late Virgina Clinton, was a nurse at the hospital where Stevenson's mother used to work in the cafeteria.

And it wasn't just the association with the Clinton family. She says her grandfather was a pastor of a church that, among other things, would raise money to help African-Americans cover a "poll tax" at the voter's booth that many areas of the South applied only to them.

Despite the history, Stevenson said she was politically aware, just not politically active. She went to college but got married before she finished her studies.

Throughout the years, she did clerical and data entry work while her husband enlisted in the U.S. Army. The family moved Fort Stewart, GA, to Fort Hood, TX and eventually back to Arkansas. During that time, her husband was deployed in Korea and eventually got out of the service.

The couple each worked different jobs, more than once falling victim to layoffs and reduced hours. The family found itself struggling to get by. So, Kent Stevenson re-enlisted in the Army, and the family was assigned to what's now Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Then came Robyn Stevenson's political epiphany with the bus, along with her volunteer work and activism. In 2008, she applied to be a delegate to nominate then-challenger Barack Obama.

She fell short. She had never tried to be a delegate before, and there were plenty of other people vying for the privilege to represent the state and nominate Obama.

This time around, she focused on what she'd do after the election. Specifically, she listened to the words of her candidate.

"Barack’s message was to get involved," she says. "I just took it to educate myself. Just getting involved in the community. That was Barack’s message."

She says she still believes President Obama is the right person for the nation's top job, especially given the obstacles he's faced the last four years from Republican lawmakers.

Patch asked her what she'd say to the President in the off-chance that she met him.

"I would thank him for inspiring me first and foremost," Stevenson says. "I would thank him for thinking about middle class, in the hopes he would continually rebuild the middle class."

"I would expect for him to contiue to fight for the working poor and middle class, to propose ideas that will help students go to school and be able to attend college ... More opportunities for young people who live in urban areas. To see to it that all generations have a chance."

"I think he’s shown a lot of grace dealing with the hatred," she concludes. "You have to possess a lot of character to deal with that. He has it."