I know a lot of people who read DU also watch Dirty Jobs and Deadliest Catch.

[HiPointDem]

120. and he was a registered democrat at the time, if memory serves.

yup: Originally a member of the Democratic Party, his positions began shifting rightward in the late 1950s, and he switched to the Republican Party in 1962.

eagan was first elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild in 1941, serving as an alternate. Following World War II, he resumed service and became 3rd vice-president in 1946.[42] The adoption of conflict-of-interest bylaws in 1947 led the SAG president and six board members to resign; Reagan was nominated in a special election for the position of president and subsequently elected.[42] He was subsequently chosen by the membership to serve seven additional one-year terms, from 1947 to 1952 and in 1959. Note: He resigned his presidency in 1960.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan

I've sometimes wondered if reagan wasn't a mole in sag. he certainly showed up at a most interesting time, & shortly afterward began his rise in politics culminating in the california governorship in 1967.