Tri-City lawyer George Fearing soon will have achieved a political trifecta. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September, and followed that by being chosen as one of Washington's 12 electoral voters.
He'll complete the journey in January by traveling to Washington, D.C., for President Obama's inauguration.
And his 17-year-old son has accompanied him every step of the way.
"He's thought it wonderful to be able to do these things," Fearing told the Herald. "He very much enjoyed the convention."
Fearing and his son traveled to Olympia on Monday, where Fearing cast his electoral vote for Obama, who won the state's 12 electoral votes when he won 56 percent of the popular vote in the state in the November general election.
Obama won 332 electoral votes nationwide to Republican challenger Mitt Romney's 206.
In all but two states -- Maine and Nebraska -- the winner of the popular vote takes all of the state's electoral votes, according to Secretary of State Sam Reed's office.
Each of Washington's 10 congressional districts chose a representative to cast electoral votes for president and vice president at the state capitol on Monday.
Fearing represented the 4th Congressional District, which includes much of central Washington including the Tri-Cities and Yakima.
"It was an extreme honor," said Fearing, who has run unsuccessfully for Congress. "It is a terrific thing to have done. I'm one of 538 people in the nation who did this."
It also presented an opportunity to show his son a piece of the political process, which included getting to watch Obama's convention speech in person.
Next he'll take his son to the inauguration for another glimpse at Obama. And apparently some of his father's excitement has rubbed off on the teen.
"He says he now wants to be a politician. That surprised me. I thought he'd be an engineer," Fearing said.
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