Two weeks ago a bulletin board in the Collis Center was crammed with bright papers and notices. Then, following the official start of the Student Assembly presidential election, its contents were stripped to make room for campaign posters and information.
But even today " 14 days after the initial disrobing " it remains brown and barren, containing but one sign: "Board for Election Posters Only."
While last year at this time presidential hopefuls were advertising their candidacies through BlitzMail messages and in student areas across campus, this year's candidates have decided to start their campaigns significantly later in the election cycle.
"I guess it officially began a month before the election, but I think there doesn't need to be such a long campaign period," presidential candidate Jorge Miranda '01 said. "Two weeks is plenty of time, there's really no need to start earlier."
Miranda said that he would likely begin his campaign early this week.
Vice presidential hopeful Molly Stutzman '02 attributed this year's late campaign to a vagueness in the starting time.
"Last year, there was a very definite sense of when the campaign actually started. There was a very definite sense of a start-off date, but this year there wasn't," she said.
"Campaigning is a stressful thing, and so all of the candidates are trying not to stress themselves about it overly," Stutzman continued. "When none of the candidates are jumping the gun, I think all of the candidates are doing the same."
According to Chance Hill '01, who is also running for the vice presidency, his campaign got off to a late start because of the coincidence of the Trustee announcement last week and Easter weekend.
"I wanted to wait to see what they would say," he said. "To see if I wanted to make it an issue."
Brett Quimby '02, the Jack-O-Lantern presidential candidate, offered a different explanation for the campaigns' delayed start: "I think people are just kind of waiting for my moves, since I'm the primary mover and shaker on this campus," he said.
Similarly, this election seems unlikely to feature campaign tactics more extreme than filling the empty board.
Miranda said that his campaign will largely consist of posters, talking to friends, and blitzing people he knows.
"Nothing too hard-core," he explained.
Stutzman, too, had a similar response.
"Nothing extra-specially striking or anything," she said.
Hill, however, offered a different picture of what his likely campaign strategies.
"I have ideas, but some of them I'd like to be surprises," he said. "The obvious one will be posters."
Of the candidates contacted by The Dartmouth, Quimby was the only one who outlined drastic means of reaching potential voters.
"We've hired a couple of town criers to set up in the middle of the Green," he said. "And I plan on going to peoples' rooms at random times in the night and waking people up to shake their hands."
Neither Alex Wilson '01 nor Alex Grishman '01, both presidential candidates, could be reached for comment.
