H. Stuart Elway, one of America's most respected public opinion pollsters, grew up steeped in politics. That's him standing next to his dad, Harry S. Elway Jr., a state senator from Hoquiam who donned an Uncle Sam outfit for a big parade.

Elway and his dad, State Senator Harry S. Elway Jr., R-Hoquiam, on the campaign trail around 1958. Polson Museum Collection

When Stuart turned 20 in the turbulent summer of 1968, he enlisted in a group called Action for Washington. The goal was to energize young voters, regardless of party. But the movement coalesced around the state's progressive Republican leadership: Gov. Dan Evans, Secretary of State Lud Kramer and the GOP candidate for attorney general, Slade Gorton. When Arthur Fletcher, a charismatic civil rights leader from the Tri-Cities, joined the ticket as a candidate for lieutenant governor it galvanized the movement. Soon, 2,500 young people were staging doorbell blitzes. Come November, their only disappointment was Fletcher's narrow loss in his bid to become the state's first black statewide elected official.

Elway went on to become a special assistant to Gov. Evans before earning a doctorate in communications. Elway emerged in the 1990s as the go-to expert on Northwest political trends. In 2009, he was named to the Communications Department Alumni Hall of Fame at the University of Washington.