Campaign Update

As we reach the end of campaign week here at UVa, I would like to provide everyone with an update on my role in the election so far.

For those of you that are unaware, I am pursuing a position as Student Bar Association Representative for the Class of 2007. There are 19 candidates for five positions, so it promises to be a close race where name recognition and good ol' fashioned dirty tricks are going to decide the election. Check on the latter, still working on the former.

Each candidate is allowed to submit one campaign flyer, not to exceed 8.5 x 11 or "letter" size as we used to call it in the copying industry. (11 x 17= tabloid, 8.5 x 14= legal, 18= barely legal) I am one of nine candidates to submit a flyer, which range from the "I take this way too serious since I lost freshman class president in high school" to "I'm not taking this election nearly serious enough and am probably offending my fellow candidates with my flip attitude." Again, check on the latter, still bitter about the former.

My flyer, which I would post here if I had the technological savvy, is a picture of me with my hair standing straight up after a day of wearing a baseball cap. I have a beer in my hand, nestled in a UVa "coozy," and I am smiling at the camera. The tagline is "Competent and Responsible, So You Don't Have to Be." I then proceed to list a brief resume which includes my subscription to The Economist as one of the crowning achievements of my life. If you would like a copy, please feel free to email me.

All joking aside, I am taking the campaign seriously but have reservations about taking myself too seriously in this election. I seek this office not to bolster my resume, not to rattle the cage of the administration, and not to shake things up in pursuit of making student government "relevant" again. There is a time for revolution and there is a time for continuation of the status quo. Life here at UVa is good, SBA promotes that goodness, and I believe SBA could be, dare I say, even gooder with me as a member. If that day comes that the evil Dean (he's actually quite friendly and a fantastic professor) cracks down on students' rights or people become unsatisfied with their experience here, I will gladly assume the role of advocate and speak up for change.

One funny closing story regarding the campaign. Apparently during On Campus Interviewing, a fellow first year student was asked by his interviewer "Hey, do you know this 'Mambles' guy? I saw his flyer and think its hilarious."