So the polls are closing down, and all the candidates are wondering what to do with the hundreds of leaflets they still have left.
It's looking like turnout will hit maybe 2250 if they're lucky, so plenty of votes were up for grabs today.
AND THE WINNER IS?
President:
It's looking unlikely that Eamonn will secure a second term in the S.U., with Ruán going for an absolute blitz today. Hard to see Eamonn or Mark pulling enough to take this from him.
Ruan: 52%
Eamonn: 33%
Mark: 15%
Education:
This one was fought a lot today, with all four making themselves seen on the ground. For sheer volume of numbers and sway on the ground, it's looking pretty certain that Emma is going to take this one.
Emma: 34%
Aoife: 28%
David: 24%
Huw: 14%
Emma elected on transfers after Huw and David eliminated.
Communications:
This one is the most difficult to call, with Aoife seeming to take an early lead today, especially at the library and the Health Science. David appeared to be pegging her back all day however, and it's clear this is a difficult one to call. It easily could go either way. Sticking my neck out though, I'd go with;
Aoife: 50.5%
David: 49.5%
Campaigns and Services:
Both Darragh and Michelle had reasonably quiet campaigns today, with Michelle heard to admit that she thought it was beyond her. Fergal gave a huge push, and like Ruán, it'd be hard to see this going to anyone else.
Fergal: 49%
Michelle: 32%
Darragh: 19%
Most of these could easily be wrong, but it seems that's how the feeling is on the ground. Full results will be up later.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Warning!
A little bird has told me to expect a plague of garden Gnomes on campus tomorrow after all... Oh dear.
Husts!
Right, so on to the hustings. First of all, remember that these aren't too relevant, as most people there have already made their minds up. Still, we saw some interesting stuff come out of this (not enough to merit nearly three hours of being cold outside the Stables,
sadly).
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
From the offset, it seemed that this was going to be a calm enough part of the hustings. David gave a fairly decent speech, promised a few things without saying what they were, managed to work in his relevant experience. Likewise Aoife talked about her policies and her experience (although, sadly it was mainly off a sheet).Then the floor was thrown open to questions. It quickly became apparent that David didn't see Pulse in the SU's future. Or the paper really. We were informed about how bad An Focal is, how flawed the entire position is, and indeed how little he thought of An Focal in the last year, and we should move to the website instead. Ms. Breen must be delighted to know this.Things got even more bizarre when the current Sabbats starting intervening, with Pa O'Brien questioning if David understood exactly what it was he was running for.The final straw came when David was asked how he would decide on what gets printed. He said that he wanted to expand the talent pool, and use the best writers, to make a professional quality paper. He'd do this by printing only the highest quality articles. Interesting, as his manifesto states;
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
Realistically, this wasn't a great event for either candidate. It was close enough, with David edging it before the questions. As the question portion of this pageant rolled on, David's tiara looked very shaky. By a small bit, I'd put this one for Aoife. In saying that, let me make clear that Aoife didn't win this, rather David managed to lose it.
CAMPAIGNS AND SERVICES
The husts for CSO went much more smoothly.
Darragh Bourke opened with a relatively decent speech, usual stuff of better services, better campaigns, and the all-purpose "down with fees" malarkey at the end. Did himself good in general, but didn't really make anything to drag him back into the race.
Fergal had a speech of two halves, really. When he was on form, he was blazing, with some good ideas, and a pretty decent hold on the audience. When he wasn't, however, he had to be fed substantially by his campaign manager Paddy Rockett, both points and his facts. A lot more could have been done here.
Michelle did herself a lot of justice, and was the clearest speaker, very good manner, with a few decent points. The main problem with her speech was that it hinged on "What do you want me to do?". While this isn't a bad thing, it did make it seem as if she had few ideas of her own.
Which was something that lacked greatly from the CSO husts. While nobody made any huge errors (one would have thought Fergal would have acquitted himself slightly better), nobody did anything great either. All three (especially Michelle) had a tendency to avoid the question they were asked, which felt a bit of a cop-out.
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
This is a difficult one to call. For the most part, they said the same things, with no wildly different views appearing. Fergal played off the crowd well, but due to his huge flaws, I think that Michelle edged the hust. I don't see this having a huge effect on the overall campaign, however, with Fergal starting to really push out the boat with his campaign (more on that later).
EDUCATION
For most supporters present, this was the big one (sorry, presidential hopefuls). As the candidates took the stage, it became apparent that they had all brought large teams for support, particularly Emma (how did she train that army so well?).
Aoife was the first to speak, and made a pretty good speech, outlining her policies and experience. She did well to make her voice heard, and dealt with most of the stuff you'd expect from an Education hopeful.
Emma definitely benefitted from her Debating past and found herself at ease on the stage ("I'm just here to have a chat about the Education Office". Bless.). She did very well at representing herself as "the fresh voice (tm)", and made a good speech about why she was running, and what she wanted to do.
David seemed very nervous for the most part, and did his best to stake his claim in the "I've seen the mistakes of the past" territory. Made a reasonable speech, needed more urgency in his voice though.
Huw was reasonable enough, however, he veered into "I should get it because I want it" country. We heard a lot about his class, and the fact that he was an Engineering student, but it didn't really tie in. Showed some good promise though (he told of how he secured a room for 24/7 study for his department as Class Rep).
The questions were a bit of a vague mess (damn this sudden interest in education!), and at times it seemed as if all gave the same answer. When asked about how to change class reps, both David and Aoife seemed to rely on their tenure as reason enough, while Emma spoke of her plan to emulate Galway's faculty seperations (unusual, an actual feasible solution!). Huw also decided to opt for the "I'm a class rep, I can fix the problem" answer.
The most interesting question was on the plebiscite, and how would the candidates vote. While all gave the obvious "No fees" as their preferred option, it was interesting to note that each went for a different second option (Aoife: Higher Tax, Emma: Student Loans, David: Graduate Tax, Huw: "There is no other option"). It's a shame that this seems to be the only real difference between all of the candidates.
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
While all four made decent points (often the same ones), it seemed as though Emma had a better grip on the entire thing. Not only did she speak well, but she brought in a lot of new, different ideas. So it would seem that Emma walked away with it.
President
At this point, we were two hours in, and it seemed to effect all of the Presidential candidates. None of the three seemed to show the strength of leadership the SU needs.
First up was Mark, who, despite his "unique" campaign so far came across as quite charming, and managed to get quite a good few points in. He painted himself clearly as the non-clique based candidate, and did himself a lot of good here. If only he'd had the campaign to match.
Ruán also did himself reasonably well, made good points, despite a good deal of hesitation in his speech. Needs to find some assertion if he is to be ULSU's next president.
Eamonn was the final candidate, and played on his current position and experience. Also took the rather strange route of claiming there's be be rape and murder if he wasn't elected. Well, not quite, but there was a large degree of scare-mongering to his speech. Focused far too much on negativity, it would appear.
The question session was quite interesting, with the usual issues coming up. All addressed the idea of safety quite well, but a question of "how would you fund better security?" was danced around by all three candidates. Eamonn took some heavy hits, particularly when one person questioned why he felt it only necessary now to offer this pay cut during an election (a harsh question, but a valid one).
Eamonn did do himself proud however, when a clearly loaded question was asked about what had the candidates given up for the week (the inference being clear that Eamonn had abandonded the students). While the two other lads gave the perfunctory "Skipping class/pushing back essays" answer, Eamonn declared that he had taken two days holiday for today and tomorrow, and was still answering emails, phonecalls, and any students that approached him, and defended himself admirably. It's a shame that he had to though, as it was clear the question was an attempt to derail him.
WHO CAME OUT THE BEST?
As with all of them, it was a pretty even battle. However, it seemed like a two horse race with Ruán and Eamonn out ahead. While Eamonn deserves praise for defending himself so well, it did appear that Ruán managed to just about take this one. Eamonn still is in with a fighting chance though.
sadly).
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
From the offset, it seemed that this was going to be a calm enough part of the hustings. David gave a fairly decent speech, promised a few things without saying what they were, managed to work in his relevant experience. Likewise Aoife talked about her policies and her experience (although, sadly it was mainly off a sheet).Then the floor was thrown open to questions. It quickly became apparent that David didn't see Pulse in the SU's future. Or the paper really. We were informed about how bad An Focal is, how flawed the entire position is, and indeed how little he thought of An Focal in the last year, and we should move to the website instead. Ms. Breen must be delighted to know this.Things got even more bizarre when the current Sabbats starting intervening, with Pa O'Brien questioning if David understood exactly what it was he was running for.The final straw came when David was asked how he would decide on what gets printed. He said that he wanted to expand the talent pool, and use the best writers, to make a professional quality paper. He'd do this by printing only the highest quality articles. Interesting, as his manifesto states;
Anyone who submits a story will have that story published, I feel we needto moveBit of contradiction there, surely?And as for Aoife, well, there wasn't much from her. She said the same things really as her manifesto, a bit of expansion. It's clear this girl needs to get a bit more fire however. Biggest mistake was claiming that An Focal was "The Union's paper" and that she "couldn't use it to criticise other Sabbats, as this would cause tension". To be honest, I assumed that An Focal was meant to serve the students, rather than the Sabbats. Or both, as David did point out.
away from being dependant on the the current clique of writers, who do agreat
job, but there's no way such a small group can really represent thecomplete view
of life in UL
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
Realistically, this wasn't a great event for either candidate. It was close enough, with David edging it before the questions. As the question portion of this pageant rolled on, David's tiara looked very shaky. By a small bit, I'd put this one for Aoife. In saying that, let me make clear that Aoife didn't win this, rather David managed to lose it.
CAMPAIGNS AND SERVICES
The husts for CSO went much more smoothly.
Darragh Bourke opened with a relatively decent speech, usual stuff of better services, better campaigns, and the all-purpose "down with fees" malarkey at the end. Did himself good in general, but didn't really make anything to drag him back into the race.
Fergal had a speech of two halves, really. When he was on form, he was blazing, with some good ideas, and a pretty decent hold on the audience. When he wasn't, however, he had to be fed substantially by his campaign manager Paddy Rockett, both points and his facts. A lot more could have been done here.
Michelle did herself a lot of justice, and was the clearest speaker, very good manner, with a few decent points. The main problem with her speech was that it hinged on "What do you want me to do?". While this isn't a bad thing, it did make it seem as if she had few ideas of her own.
Which was something that lacked greatly from the CSO husts. While nobody made any huge errors (one would have thought Fergal would have acquitted himself slightly better), nobody did anything great either. All three (especially Michelle) had a tendency to avoid the question they were asked, which felt a bit of a cop-out.
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
This is a difficult one to call. For the most part, they said the same things, with no wildly different views appearing. Fergal played off the crowd well, but due to his huge flaws, I think that Michelle edged the hust. I don't see this having a huge effect on the overall campaign, however, with Fergal starting to really push out the boat with his campaign (more on that later).
EDUCATION
For most supporters present, this was the big one (sorry, presidential hopefuls). As the candidates took the stage, it became apparent that they had all brought large teams for support, particularly Emma (how did she train that army so well?).
Aoife was the first to speak, and made a pretty good speech, outlining her policies and experience. She did well to make her voice heard, and dealt with most of the stuff you'd expect from an Education hopeful.
Emma definitely benefitted from her Debating past and found herself at ease on the stage ("I'm just here to have a chat about the Education Office". Bless.). She did very well at representing herself as "the fresh voice (tm)", and made a good speech about why she was running, and what she wanted to do.
David seemed very nervous for the most part, and did his best to stake his claim in the "I've seen the mistakes of the past" territory. Made a reasonable speech, needed more urgency in his voice though.
Huw was reasonable enough, however, he veered into "I should get it because I want it" country. We heard a lot about his class, and the fact that he was an Engineering student, but it didn't really tie in. Showed some good promise though (he told of how he secured a room for 24/7 study for his department as Class Rep).
The questions were a bit of a vague mess (damn this sudden interest in education!), and at times it seemed as if all gave the same answer. When asked about how to change class reps, both David and Aoife seemed to rely on their tenure as reason enough, while Emma spoke of her plan to emulate Galway's faculty seperations (unusual, an actual feasible solution!). Huw also decided to opt for the "I'm a class rep, I can fix the problem" answer.
The most interesting question was on the plebiscite, and how would the candidates vote. While all gave the obvious "No fees" as their preferred option, it was interesting to note that each went for a different second option (Aoife: Higher Tax, Emma: Student Loans, David: Graduate Tax, Huw: "There is no other option"). It's a shame that this seems to be the only real difference between all of the candidates.
WHO CAME OUT BEST?
While all four made decent points (often the same ones), it seemed as though Emma had a better grip on the entire thing. Not only did she speak well, but she brought in a lot of new, different ideas. So it would seem that Emma walked away with it.
President
At this point, we were two hours in, and it seemed to effect all of the Presidential candidates. None of the three seemed to show the strength of leadership the SU needs.
First up was Mark, who, despite his "unique" campaign so far came across as quite charming, and managed to get quite a good few points in. He painted himself clearly as the non-clique based candidate, and did himself a lot of good here. If only he'd had the campaign to match.
Ruán also did himself reasonably well, made good points, despite a good deal of hesitation in his speech. Needs to find some assertion if he is to be ULSU's next president.
Eamonn was the final candidate, and played on his current position and experience. Also took the rather strange route of claiming there's be be rape and murder if he wasn't elected. Well, not quite, but there was a large degree of scare-mongering to his speech. Focused far too much on negativity, it would appear.
The question session was quite interesting, with the usual issues coming up. All addressed the idea of safety quite well, but a question of "how would you fund better security?" was danced around by all three candidates. Eamonn took some heavy hits, particularly when one person questioned why he felt it only necessary now to offer this pay cut during an election (a harsh question, but a valid one).
Eamonn did do himself proud however, when a clearly loaded question was asked about what had the candidates given up for the week (the inference being clear that Eamonn had abandonded the students). While the two other lads gave the perfunctory "Skipping class/pushing back essays" answer, Eamonn declared that he had taken two days holiday for today and tomorrow, and was still answering emails, phonecalls, and any students that approached him, and defended himself admirably. It's a shame that he had to though, as it was clear the question was an attempt to derail him.
WHO CAME OUT THE BEST?
As with all of them, it was a pretty even battle. However, it seemed like a two horse race with Ruán and Eamonn out ahead. While Eamonn deserves praise for defending himself so well, it did appear that Ruán managed to just about take this one. Eamonn still is in with a fighting chance though.
Election Fever: Campaigns and Services
The last of the positions being contested this week is Campaigns and Services. Three people have thrown their name into the hat for this position;
- Darragh Bourke
- Fergal Dempsey
- Michelle Lawlor
DARRAGH BOURKE:
Darragh doesn't appear to have made any real attempt this week, with a lack of any presence on campus at all. Surprising, as he was one of the most vocal candidates before nominations closed. Needs to buck up his game soon. Also, running on an off-licence policy may grab votes now, but it's only going to lead to unhappy students when they don't get their offy on campus.
FERGAL BOURKE:
One of the slower campaigns to kick off, Fergal looked quite shaky on Monday, with only a bland block print poster. Tuesday saw his campaign come to life, with the Farmers' Market taken over by Fergal t-shirts and posters. Very well organised, Fergal has shown a real drive for this position. Also running an interesting apples and orange juice giveaway that seems to be helping him greatly.
Yet to see any of his actual policies, so I can't comment on them.
MICHELLE LAWLOR:
Now this is a good example of an unknown trying to make up the ground. Written off by many as soon as nominations were announced, she's made a decent enough fist of the campaign so far, with one amusing (albeit, mildly) poster, and one that lists her policies (the only one running for CSO that appears to have any yet). Not exactly setting the world alight, but a gimmick or two in the next couple of days could easily see this dark horse getting neck and neck with the race leader.
AND THE WINNER IS?
At this early point, Fergal seems to be building up a bit of steam. Michelle seems a bit behind, with Darragh fairly out of it. Right now, it's likely Fergal will be the victor here, with Michelle still having a chance of taking it from him.
Election Fever: Communications
Despite what some people tried to make out of it, the hoopla about David's nomination form turned out to be a non-issue, and hasn't had any effect on the campaign, despite some people claiming it would.
So, putting aside all that nonsense, the two candidates are;
So, putting aside all that nonsense, the two candidates are;
- David Dolphin
- Aoife Ní Raghallaigh
DAVID DOLPHIN:
After a fairly late start, David is finally beginning to have a presence on campus. Some eye catching posters, may not be the most flattering angle for the candidate (pun intended). Online, David has one of the strangest websites (what is a GPG Key anyway? And what does it have to do with Communications office? More importantly, does it hold the answer to Lost??). If this is his campaign website, it needs to be made more user friendly. Just because his Skynet friends may understand it, doesn't mean everyone else will. Doing a good job of making speeches at lectures and getting his voice out there. Still needs more.
David appears to be running on the traditional "I'm a fresh voice for the students" mantra. His manifesto heads quite dangerously into Breenie bashing territory. Some ideas quite interesting however, and it seems like he'd be the best option for solving the website. How does he propose being able to print every article, while
"Keep An Focal filler-free; turn it into a professional quality paper we can be proud of"?
Not something he appears to have thought through.
His campaign seems to be relying on support from Emma, however, with all his campaigners seeming to come from her army. How will he survive when Emma pulls them back to her own campaign for one last assault on Thursday?
AOIFE NÍ RAGHALLAIGH
A fairly decent start from Aoife's campaign. Hitting as much of campus as she can with a good variety of posters (ah, the time-honoured "candidate on the front of a newspaper" motif). Has a fair amount of people on the ground, several t-shirted people seem to be wandering around campus with manifestos. And sweets. Yes, the buying votes with sweets race has begun early this year, folks.
Good campaign overall, Aoife is clearly relying on her journalistic experience here. Some of her T-shirts are slightly flawed however. "Vote Aoife" isn't the best idea when two candidates are running with the same name (albeit for different jobs). Which Aoife do you mean? And for what job? Getting your name out there is fine, as long as someone else doesn't share it.
Policy-wise, she seems solid enough, there's no real fire-starting policy (in neither a good or bad way). Pays more attention to An Focal than David, it's clear to see where their backgrounds both lie. Has also been visiting as many lectures, if not more, than David. Hasn't made any killer blows yet. Needs to keep up with David on his website/ Clubs and socities promises.
AND THE WINNER IS?
As with Education, this isn't one we're comfortable yet to wholesale call a victory for. However, at this point, it's looking as if Aoife is ahead. Still all to be played for in this one.
(Non) Election Fever: Welfare
Due to the rather strange occurance of nobody wanting the job in the first place apparently, we now have news of several people coming out of the woodwork and wanting the job (perhaps everyone was afraid of the mighty Bubbles wanting to run again).
Rumours have been flying since nominations re-opened, with some seeming more likely than others:
DEREK DALY:
A somewhat surprising entry, 4th Business student Derek is thought to have shown a keen interest in running for the job. Will this materialise into a full scale bid for the job?
AOIFE HARNEY:
Thought to be running for president last week, Law And Euro Student Aoife has made a last minute charge for Welfare. Aoife has been seen on campus with her nomination form, and is believed to be well into organising her campaign.
TONY MURPHY:
Tony was thought to be one of the people most likely to run last week (despite any reason to believe that), but it's yet to be seen if his interest in the position still exists (if it ever really did).
MIKE TWOOMEY:
Current Out in UL president Mike was also believed to be running last week. His interest seems to be a lot more concrete this week, as he's been spotted collecting signatures on campus.
DEIRDRE WILSON:
Deirdre, the current First Year Rep is the last of the three candidates thought to have been running last week. However, she ruled herself out before nominations closed last week, and appears to have done so once again.
A.N. OTHER
Several other people have also been rumoured to want the job. For some reason, many of the first year class reps have been expressing an interest in the position, so there is a possibility we may see a few fresh faces in the final mix-up. Then again, the allure of their first ever RAG week may end up distracting them for now.
There's been rumblings of other students too, so it'll be interesting to see who actually is going to enter into the second round of elections this semester.
Rumours have been flying since nominations re-opened, with some seeming more likely than others:
DEREK DALY:
A somewhat surprising entry, 4th Business student Derek is thought to have shown a keen interest in running for the job. Will this materialise into a full scale bid for the job?
AOIFE HARNEY:
Thought to be running for president last week, Law And Euro Student Aoife has made a last minute charge for Welfare. Aoife has been seen on campus with her nomination form, and is believed to be well into organising her campaign.
TONY MURPHY:
Tony was thought to be one of the people most likely to run last week (despite any reason to believe that), but it's yet to be seen if his interest in the position still exists (if it ever really did).
MIKE TWOOMEY:
Current Out in UL president Mike was also believed to be running last week. His interest seems to be a lot more concrete this week, as he's been spotted collecting signatures on campus.
DEIRDRE WILSON:
Deirdre, the current First Year Rep is the last of the three candidates thought to have been running last week. However, she ruled herself out before nominations closed last week, and appears to have done so once again.
A.N. OTHER
Several other people have also been rumoured to want the job. For some reason, many of the first year class reps have been expressing an interest in the position, so there is a possibility we may see a few fresh faces in the final mix-up. Then again, the allure of their first ever RAG week may end up distracting them for now.
There's been rumblings of other students too, so it'll be interesting to see who actually is going to enter into the second round of elections this semester.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Election Fever: Education
There's four candidates running for the hot-seat soon to be vacated by Eamonn.
- Aoife Finnerty
- Emma Kerins
- David Ryan
- Huw Thomas
Aoife Finnerty:
WonderWoman, eh? Making a pretty bold statement there. Pretty comprehensive start, covering most of the basics (posters, minions, a bright and shiny theme). On the ground already, needs a greater presence however. Clearly playing on her policies and relevant experience to land herself the job. Nice to see them displayed on her poster.
All in all, a good start, and one she can easily build on. Will be interesting to see how she develops the WonderWoman theme.
Emma Kerins:
Wow. Even on the Monday, Emma seemed to have UL blanketed. Her army of supporters are everywhere, leaflets are being distributed all around, and there's stickers and t-shirts across the campus. Definitely going to be a campaign to reckon with. Unlike Aoife or David, she seems to be relying on the C&S vote rather than the Class Reps vote.
Her posters are interesting, difficult to tell if it's meant to be Emma in the photo. If you haven't met Emma, then this picture wouldn't help you recognise her. That's probably the biggest flaw in her campaign right now. Which says a lot really.
She has a really tight, interesting manifesto. If Emma isn't elected, expect to see the victorious candidate "adopt" some of these policies.
David James Collison Ryan:
Running as "The Voice of Experience", while criticising those that have gone before him is a bit of an interesting tactic. As someone so active in the actions of the office in the last two years, it seems a bit odd to suddenly rail against the system you were so key to. Should've spoken earlier, no?
Campaign is decent enough, nice compact manifesto. The statement "And I have a few ideas of my own" has raised questions of "Well, what are they, exactly?". Has a pretty good website with fairly good propoganda video. Quite boring posters though. Obviously hoping for the backing of his fellow Class Reps.
Needs to decide exactly what kind of candidate he wants to be fast, and get it out to the students ASAP.
Huw Thomas:
Another one who seems to have opted for a low-key start, with only a handful of A4 posters around (Although, only one of two people to have visited the Health Science building so far). Interesting, quite striking (literally) concept. Pretty eye-catching, but he needs something more.
Despite early reservations by some, his policies seem pretty sound, with only one seeming odd (Free Nightlink? Isn't that CSO? And already done?). Needs to get his policies out there.
Early clashes over being a nuisance to other campaign teams suggest he's yet to find his feet in this election, but still shows some hope.
AND THE WINNER IS?
This will probably be the closest of the four elections, with all four candidates standing a reasonable chance. At this point, it's looking as though Emma may end up taking it. However, this rests entirely on how the other three candidates do in ramping up their challenge before Thursday.
Election Fever: President
The campaigning is well underway, so at what is essentially the halfway point of campaigning, let's have a look at those taking a shot at the top job
Mark Conway:
Day One: Not a sight of him. No posters, no manfesto, no presence on campus whatsoever yet. If he's going to make a serious attempt for president, then he needs to up his game quick.
Day Two: Oh dear... Maybe he shouldn't have upped his game. Mark finally appeared at his stand with some election propaganda. Propaganda which called for Joesph Fritzl to be kept locked up for life. Something tells me he's not going to make a serious attempt for president after all. Despite what Mr. Conway claims, "there's no such thing as bad publicity" may be a mantra that comes back to haunt him.
Eamonn Gardiner:
Fairly decent start, posters across most of the key areas. The gnomes that appear in one of his posters is fairly worrying, there is a danger that Eamonn may end up flooding the campus with gnomes on Thursday (That may sound crazy, but remember the "builder" and "vote for the Smarty" campagains?).
Second poster much stronger, plays on his experience, which is his strongest asset in this campaign. Strange that they don't mention what he's running for though. Some very strong ideas, with quite a bit of nobility involved (offering 10% of his wages to create a Non-Sabbat officer budget).
He's been quiet enough around campus, seems to be doing the decent thing by trying to serve his current mandate while seeking a new one, unlike past re-electioneers (e.g. Paddy McHugh taking a week off to campaign for President)
Ruán Dillon McLoughlin
By far the best start of the three; a nice variety of posters are everywhere, from Cappavilla to the Schuman, even off campus in the shops. A lot of people on the ground, swarming around with his t-shirts and manifesto. Also, has created one of the most memorable campaign videos I've seen (I recommend looking it up).
So, the sheen is quite good, how about the policies? Well, there are some good ones in there, mixed in with quite a few more unusual ones. Suggestions of a 24 hour library and a buffet style super website seem a bit too far-fetched. It may seem cynical, but these seem like vote grabbers more than real policies. Still seems like quite a strong candidate however.
AND THE WINNER IS?
At this point, it's looking like a two-horse race, with Eamonn and Ruán well ahead of Mark. Eamonn has the experience, but Ruán's campaign has much more presence and glamour attached to it. It's looking likely to be a victory for Ruán at this stage.
- Mark Conway
- Eamonn Gardiner
- Ruán Dillon McLoughlin
Mark Conway:
Day One: Not a sight of him. No posters, no manfesto, no presence on campus whatsoever yet. If he's going to make a serious attempt for president, then he needs to up his game quick.
Day Two: Oh dear... Maybe he shouldn't have upped his game. Mark finally appeared at his stand with some election propaganda. Propaganda which called for Joesph Fritzl to be kept locked up for life. Something tells me he's not going to make a serious attempt for president after all. Despite what Mr. Conway claims, "there's no such thing as bad publicity" may be a mantra that comes back to haunt him.
Eamonn Gardiner:
Fairly decent start, posters across most of the key areas. The gnomes that appear in one of his posters is fairly worrying, there is a danger that Eamonn may end up flooding the campus with gnomes on Thursday (That may sound crazy, but remember the "builder" and "vote for the Smarty" campagains?).
Second poster much stronger, plays on his experience, which is his strongest asset in this campaign. Strange that they don't mention what he's running for though. Some very strong ideas, with quite a bit of nobility involved (offering 10% of his wages to create a Non-Sabbat officer budget).
He's been quiet enough around campus, seems to be doing the decent thing by trying to serve his current mandate while seeking a new one, unlike past re-electioneers (e.g. Paddy McHugh taking a week off to campaign for President)
Ruán Dillon McLoughlin
By far the best start of the three; a nice variety of posters are everywhere, from Cappavilla to the Schuman, even off campus in the shops. A lot of people on the ground, swarming around with his t-shirts and manifesto. Also, has created one of the most memorable campaign videos I've seen (I recommend looking it up).
So, the sheen is quite good, how about the policies? Well, there are some good ones in there, mixed in with quite a few more unusual ones. Suggestions of a 24 hour library and a buffet style super website seem a bit too far-fetched. It may seem cynical, but these seem like vote grabbers more than real policies. Still seems like quite a strong candidate however.
AND THE WINNER IS?
At this point, it's looking like a two-horse race, with Eamonn and Ruán well ahead of Mark. Eamonn has the experience, but Ruán's campaign has much more presence and glamour attached to it. It's looking likely to be a victory for Ruán at this stage.
What is the UL Story?
Ok, so I feel like I should probably explain what this is all about.
As you may or may not know, the elections for the new officers for the Students' Union are currently taking place right now. Because of the nature of the elections, it's difficult for anyone to really provide a commentary of what exactly is going on.
Somehow, I think people need more.
And that's what this is. A group of us have gotten together, a group with no ties to the candidates, to give a unbiased, comprehensive look at the campaigns. Hey, it'd be a novelty, right?
So basically, keep an eye on us here throughout the elections to see what's happening. And possibly long after that too. Someone may as well keep an eye on what these sabbats do once they're actually elected.
Let us know what you think
As you may or may not know, the elections for the new officers for the Students' Union are currently taking place right now. Because of the nature of the elections, it's difficult for anyone to really provide a commentary of what exactly is going on.
For several years now, there was only one real commentary (apart from boards speculation) on the elections. There needs to be more. Especially when the only thing that commentator can tell you about a candidate is;
David James Collison Ryan - Christ picking a frakking name and stick to it! Who are ya Kareem Abdul Jabbar? You win some titles and then you can run about the place with 50 names, and 40 initials.
And that's what this is. A group of us have gotten together, a group with no ties to the candidates, to give a unbiased, comprehensive look at the campaigns. Hey, it'd be a novelty, right?
So basically, keep an eye on us here throughout the elections to see what's happening. And possibly long after that too. Someone may as well keep an eye on what these sabbats do once they're actually elected.
Let us know what you think
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)