He lived just a stone’s throw from Washington, D.C. and had a mother who constantly brought him into political discussions — even when he was 8.

No wonder then that Greene, now 36, has created a career out of politics — both as a political science professor at N.C. State University and as a local elections expert.

He prefers “elections analyst,” but whatever you call him, the Cary resident is the go-to guy for a score of media outlets during this highly charged election season.

And he knows that it’s kind of cool.

“Professionally it’s just so much fun,” he said while kicking back in his office in downtown Raleigh.

This election, with its historical implications — a black man on the Democratic ticket, a female VP for the GOP — is exciting to watch, and the glass-ceiling-shattering candidates represent real historical change, he said.

He loves putting his historical knowledge into a perspective that helps people understand current events. For example, will large numbers of women support Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin just because she’s female?

Historically the answer is no, and Greene wrote an op-ed about it for the News & Observer, pulling figures from past races.

When he’s not writing for newspapers he’s talking to them. Last week he and a Fayetteville Observer reporter discussed the effectiveness of ads in a North Carolina senate race.

“The world is our laboratory,” he said of current events, noting that they put into motion what he taught his students about the political process.

However this year’s battle between Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain isn’t the first presidential race that has set Greene on fire, not by far.

As an 8-year-old kid in suburban Virginia he remembers getting excited by the 1980 Ronald Reagan-Jimmy Carter race.

That’s mostly due to his mother, a single piano teacher who raised him alone for many years.

The daughter of German immigrants, she taught him that being part of a democracy meant that he had to do his share.

He feels like his work as an elections analyst is his way of giving back to the community, helping strengthen democracy by showing people that professors like him are “not just a bunch of ivory tower eggheads.”

He hopes that the new participation drummed up by this election will last, because participation is the key to the democratic process, he said.

“We’re the damn people, get out and do it.”