The high school assignment that convinced Hillary Clinton to become a Democrat

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last updated 9 October 2015

When Hillary Clinton was assigned the role of Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in a high school mock debate of the 1964 presidential election, she was an active member of the Young Republicans and an avid supporter of Republican Barry Goldwater. But, after hours spent in the library studying up on Johnson's positions on civil rights, foreign policy, and health care, The New York Times reports that Clinton emerged a changed woman. She delivered a "compelling case" — a case so compelling, in fact, that by the time Clinton graduated from high school one year later, she had jumped ship to join the Democratic Party.

Since her high school days, Clinton's penchant for arduous debate preparation has never wavered. "It's who she is at her core," Patti Solis Doyle, an aide to Clinton from 1991 to 2008 and a manager of Clinton's '08 campaign, told The New York Times. "She's an avid studier. She does her homework. She's a massive preparer."

Come Tuesday — the night of the first Democratic debate — Clinton will finally be able to put all that preparation to the test. We'll see if she can convince America as well as she convinced her high school self.