How would you interpret this phrase “had you down for”?
“My stenographer went out to see Truman at his whistle stop here, just a couple of weeks ago. She’s League of Women Voters. So there’s one he can count on.”
“Oh, gee. Little man with high voice makes barnyard jokes from back of train.”
“She said he turned out quite a crowd.”
“Natch. The first thing he’s accomplished in the last two years.”
“That’s not fair. The Republicans kill every one of his bills in Congress. They can’t be bothered with the minimum wage or housing starts, they’re all crowding into the communism hearings to see Alger Hiss charged with espionage.”
Tommy vamped a few bars of “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” with jazz hands.
“It’s true, Tommy. If you read something besides the Echo, you’d know that.”
“Fine, down with it. Harry Truman gets two votes.”
“I don’t vote. I never have.”
“Really? Conk me. I had you down for a Henry Wallace type. The rise of the common man and all that. All the reviewers say so.”How would you interpret this phrase “had you down for” in the last passage?
Does it mean the speaker had thought the other one was like Henry Wallace in political stand?
How would you interpret the adverb “down” here? Does it mean the speaker despised a man like Henry Wallace?
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Question

How would you interpret this phrase “had you down for”?
“My stenographer went out to see Truman at his whistle stop here, just a couple of weeks ago. She’s League of Women Voters. So there’s one he can count on.”
“Oh, gee. Little man with high voice makes barnyard jokes from back of train.”
“She said he turned out quite a crowd.”
“Natch. The first thing he’s accomplished in the last two years.”
“That’s not fair. The Republicans kill every one of his bills in Congress. They can’t be bothered with the minimum wage or housing starts, they’re all crowding into the communism hearings to see Alger Hiss charged with espionage.”
Tommy vamped a few bars of “I’m Just Wild About Harry,” with jazz hands.
“It’s true, Tommy. If you read something besides the Echo, you’d know that.”
“Fine, down with it. Harry Truman gets two votes.”
“I don’t vote. I never have.”
“Really? Conk me. I had you down for a Henry Wallace type. The rise of the common man and all that. All the reviewers say so.”How would you interpret this phrase “had you down for” in the last passage?
Does it mean the speaker had thought the other one was like Henry Wallace in political stand?
How would you interpret the adverb “down” here? Does it mean the speaker despised a man like Henry Wallace?
Thanks! And this excerpt is taken from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.

Answer

Thank you.

Answer

"I had you down for a Henry Wallace type." 
The part in question "I had you down for" basically means that the speaker thought he was a Henry Wallace type.
 For example: If I thought you achieved great grades, but in reality you did not, I could've said "I had you down for the smart type." hope this helped!

Answer

"Had you down for" means to imagine that the person has a list here they've written down names. For instance, if someone says "I have you down for 2 dollars" it means that they've noted that the person is donating 2 dollars.

So in this case he's saying that he has him "down" (meaning he has him written down on an imaginary list in his mind) as a Henry Wallace-type voter. I'll bet that it originally also has a connection to the idea of writing down bets.

Hope that makes sense!

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