“Just because we take the issues seriously doesn’t mean we have to take ourselves seriously,” Ben Shaw (COL ‘08) explained as he and his running mate Matt Appenfeller (COL ‘08) filmed their video “Vote in a Box” as part of their Student Association election campaign.
Taking a cue from Saturday Night Live’s “Dick in a Box” skit right down to the music and their facial hair, “Vote in a Box,” which features Shaw and Appenfeller in various campus locales, was posted on YouTube.com on Tuesday and received 1,628 views within 24 hours of its posting, scoring five of the popular web site’s honors for the most-watched videos.
Enoch Bevel (COL ‘08), who has posted numerous simpler videos on YouTube.com, in which he and his running-mate Munir Jawed (SFS ‘08) have conversations with each other, expressed disdain for his opponents’ videos, complaining that they lacked substance.
“I don’t think they have a message … it’s something in a box, it’s ‘I have no pants on,’” Bevel said as he knocked on doors in Harbin Tuesday night.
Giving the Student Association a foundation of legitimacy and effectiveness is his primary concern, Bevel said.
In a field of campaigns plagued by similar platforms and rife with video stunts, facebook.com groups and web sites, candidates must turn to other tactics to guarantee votes.
Bevel has been canvassing freshman dorms and plans to go door-to-door at off-campus townhouses looking for votes.
Luke Hillman (COL ‘08) and Gage Raley (COL ‘07) struck an uncanny resemblance to the Odd Couple as they sat in Kennedy Hall’s eighth-floor common room after a night of door-to-door campaigning in Harbin and Darnall.
Hillman wore a blue blazer with a red tie, sitting bolt upright across from his running mate, Raley, who sprawled across two chairs in jeans and an unbuttoned flannel shirt.
Hillman was serious but self-effacing, joking about his awkwardness. He explained that Raley, his garrulous counterpart, was a necessary component.
“He knew he needed my popularity,” Raley said, who ran for Student Association president last year and lost.
The only two sophomores on the ticket, Jake Styacich (COL ‘09) and John Dougherty (COL ‘09), have garnered the most support from official student organizations, having been endorsed by the International Relations Club and the Voice’s editorial board.
Styacich has two YouTube.com videos: a relatively simple announcement of his candidacy, which ends with a declaration that he’s not wearing pants and a shot of Styacich in a pair of red and white polka-dotted boxers.
His second video is entitled “Piano Man—GUSA style.” Styacich plays the piano while singing about his presidential aspirations.
Marisa Siano (MSB ‘10), a supporter of Styacich and Dougherty, said she thought Shaw’s and Appenfeller’s lighthearted “Vote in a Box,” was an effective campaigning tactic.
“Even though they used gimmicks, they [also] came across as really serious, really dedicated,” Siano said.
