With polls opening today, Student Assembly presidential candidates are mounting their final publicity campaigns in hopes of swaying the block of undecided voters that will determine the results.
The polls for both the presidential and vice presidential races are tight, according to a pre-election survey conducted by The Dartmouth last Friday with 16 percentage points separating the top four presidential candidates. Candidates this past weekend were busy sending mass BlitzMail messages and postering the campus to capture a share of undecided students, which total 18 percent for the presidential race and 44 percent for the vice presidential races.
Despite polls showing Dean Krishna '01 as the early front-runner in the presidential election, Krishna said he thinks the election is "pretty up in the air."
To recruit voters, Krishna said he is sending as many BlitzMail messages as possible and pasting up another batch of posters before elections swing into full gear.
He said the most important step he can take is to ensure people vote today and tomorrow.
Drew Pluhar '00, a write-in candidate who ranks second heading into the election with a 19 percent show of approval, said he feels "confident."
"The polls proved I'm a legitimate candidate, and that will help people previously undecided or voting for someone else [to vote for me]. I really do have a chance to win, [and the polls] will help my cause," he said.
As for organizing a final campaign strategy, Pluhar said he and a few friends will re-poster the campus and put together a BlitzMail campaign.
Tom Leatherbee '01 said he has been spreading the election fervor by staying on BlitzMail for last three days and coordinating his advocates to blitz out on his behalf. Leatherbee also talked to potential voters at the block party on Saturday.
Additional posters, including ones campaigning for a seventh sorority and a women's resource center, have gone up over the past few days, and allow him to highlight important campus issues, he said.
"Things are not as far apart as the original poll indicated," he said, referring to the large spread that separates him from Krishna in the polls -- 5 percent of students polled cited their support for Leatherbee compared to Krishna's 27.
Jack-O-Lantern candidate Roshan Shah '01 said he has not mounted any sort of campaign.
"I haven't done a thing. I'm not set on winning; I'm set to entertain. I'm nervous at the outcome; I'd like to lose by one vote," Shah said.
Despite his lack of effort, Shah stands in third place, only 11 percentage points behind Krishna, according to the pre-election poll.
Shah said he was not surprised by the polls, and "I think I'd win [because] people who would vote for me are the people who wouldn't vote at all," he said.
Casey Sixkiller '00, who is in Washington, D.C . on the government Foreign Study Program, was unavailable for comment.
