The first week is over and the candidates’ feet were definitely up today already. Call me a softy but I think they deserve it. These guys have been under the microscope all week and they are facing into another week of the same kind of stuff. Having said that, Ian’s word of the day is redemption as certain candidates have agreed to kiss and make up and other’s, who were slow to start, have begun to get their wheels in motion. Today, was a bit more relaxed and a bit more fun than the day that preceded it, good news for weary bloggers
Presidency:
It was a big ol’ day in the presidential race. The former triple threat match that was the presidential race has turned into hardcore one-on-one between Aaron “Stevie Wonder” Heffernan and Ryan “Jed” Bartlett. Sebastian LeCocq has pulled out of the race citing “organizational flaws” and the popularity of the other two candidates. Campaign manager Danny O’Keefe had this to say;
“Seb decided to concede the race today and have his name taken off the ballot paper, that’s a reflection of a couple of things, our campaign, though seb was a good candidate with good ideas, our campaign organisationally was flawed, but also because he was up against someone who has not only run as obama for comic effect but also had an obama-esque effect on the student body. In that regard we felt that we raised awareness, the EU hardship fund, a week ago nobody had heard of, now everyone in the college knows what it is. This isn’t a reflection on Seb, theres two very strong caniddates out there at the minute, we feel seb did a fantastic job and put in just as much work, if not more than everyone else, and basically, best of luck to the other two guys.”
It’s always unfortunate to see a candidate take their name off the ballot and we’re all sad to see Seb go but this race is still as interesting as it was yesterday. It remains to be seen if Aaron will “lose interest” in the race but if he doesn’t then Ryan will have a real fight on his hands. Heffernan’s campaign manager Matt Smyth, head of DU Players, came to us to say that Aaron and the team “were saddened that Seb pulled out”
I was a very active day for the remaining two candidates. Aaron Heffernan seemed relaxed after his day of “golfing” yesterday. After one hilarious lecture address, Heffernan showed off his musical prowess with a gig in the SU bookshop on the first floor of house six. Heffernan did his best Stevie Wonder impression for the crowd that had gathered there. He was joined by trumpeter Paul Testar for a rousing rendition of the classic “Superstition” His balloon-making in the arts block was described as a “hilarious failure,” by Smyth. The stunt was saved when Heffernan bodyguard, Prudence heard one of the balloons pop and mistook it for gunfire. He promptly drew his side-arm and escorted Heffernan to a safe location. Possibly the funniest (and most dodgy) thing that Aaron has done all week was attend a lecture in D’Olier street to address the nurses on the issues surrounding the nurses’ protest. Prudence, clothed in a nurses’ uniform and carrying a giant syringe, and Heffernan entered the lecture to give the address. Heffernan opened the address with the line, “hello nurses and their male friends.” Little did the presidential hopeful realize that the lecture they were addressing was on the topic of gender roles. Ouch! While the students loved the stunt, the lecturer was not so thrilled with Heffernan’s antics. The team were asked to leave the theatre promptly, and took the students aside to demand that Heffernan and the team send an apology to be read in front of the class at a later date. The lads sent the apology and the lecturer replied accepting the apology “in good faith.” By all accounts, however, the stunt was well received, with a nurse getting in touch on Heffernan’s facebook page to express their enjoyment. There is only one word to describe this comedy of errors; brilliant. If Aaron stays the course I’m sure we can expect more fun from him.
If Aaron had his day off yesterday, then Ryan took a half-day today. Bartlett campaign manager, Daniel Ferrick took the time to give us a reaction to yesterday’s poll. He said, “We are a little dissapointed at the rating. Overall the feeling in our team is if we drive forward and show the people what Ryan has to offer, people will see that he is the right man for the students in Trinity, the result will simply drive us to work harder next week”. After having a candid chat with Ryan and his team I can safely say that the man is definitely personable enough to lead the student body. The question can he combine his well-crafted manifesto with his ability to deal with people one-on-one? Will he be able to transfer his ability to engage in private situations to an ability to sell his ideas in public situations? That is what he is going to have to do at next week’s hustings session. “Salesmanship” is what Ryan needs to keep in mind.
Ents:
Imagine this blogger sighing a sigh of relief as he writes this section tonight. The Ents race has finally cooled down and the candidates are getting down to the business of Ents; which is all about fun, enjoyment, and feeling good. They’re getting all warm and fuzzy, folks. Never one’s to blow our own horn, we at UT would like to think that this thawing in the “Ents Cold War” is a result of our call for the candidates to “chill” in last night’s blog (beep beep). Elaine and Chris sat down to talk with Welfare officer, Steph Fleming and Education officer, Jen Fox about the persistent negativity in the campaign which resulted in McDaid being assaulted on a bus on the way back from Halls. Both candidates agreed that while neither of them fully understand where this negativity comes from, they both would like to see an end to it. After the events of Wednesday night and a lot of personal insults from those people not at all involved in either campaign, this move is a welcome and timely step forward for the campaign at large. CO’C had said to us last night that he condemns these “atrocious” actions, and Elaine has made it clear that she has no desire to see negativity from any aspect of the campaigns. This is a very adult move for both candidates and it’s something we’re delighted to see. Both candidates released an identical statement on their respective facebook pages to all of their campaigners and supporters. The message was simple: “Keep the campaign clean and fun”. It’s clear that positivity is a fundamental characteristic of both campaigns and they want to win “on their own merits and not on the faults of their opponent”. Admirable, and definitely in the Ents spirit. As of Monday, the race will be hopefully be good spirited, and let’s not forget that regardless of who is elected, they should be elected in good spirits with no ill will that will spill over into next year. Dr Seuss’ got nothing on that last sentence.
But it was all business on the ground for both candidates. Elaine had a 30 t-shirts and 20 manifestos taken off her by the EC (which shall, from now on be referred to as “the man”). This was in reaction to Elaine’s use of the “Elaine for Ents” logo as a hand stamp upon entering club nights that she organized earlier this week. Personally, upon realizing that we had an Elaine stamp on our hands at Andrew’s lane the other night, Ents reporter Jack Toner and I promptly walked to the bar and tried to wash the stamps off with beer in order to avoid any allegations of bias. Not the smartest move to use beer as hand-wash but it seemed like a good idea at the time. But so did a lot of things that night. Oh well. Chris is still relentlessly proving his policies are tangible to us as naggins remain at 4 euro in two Dublin off licenses. Fair play to the guy for making that one work. Its safe to say that our livers may hate Chris by the end of this campaign but the student body are impressed with his follow through. We talked to the guy on the till in Probus who told us they sold 105 €4 naggins last night – meanwhile one of the Deveneys (the Trinity Hall local off licence) lads said “yeah we sold a few €4 naggins, not too many though, Mike the Manc bought one.” That’s impressive stuff and it’s good to see the candidate make news out of his manifesto rather than the sideshow. Today, Chris had some famous visitors with the Hardy Bucks arriving to take photos with Chris’s campaigners – who shall from now on be known as the COC bloc. Get it?
The Hardy Bucks meet some hardy bucks
We gave both candidates some hassle about their plans for their European mystery tours yesterday. Last night, Elaine sent us confirmation that she was able to talk a travel agency into letting her send a gaggle of students to a European destination for a weekend during RAG week, if elected. Tonight, Chris sent us similar confirmation that Ryanair would be up for letting him do the same for his “Ents European Mystery Tour.” The candidates have certainly lived up to their promises. Lets see what happens next week in this evenly matched race.
Communications:
I knew this race was heated but I never thought it’d come to blows. Continuing this election’s trend of bear mascots, Eleni’s Communications bear squared off with Caroline Keating’s Welfare beaver (of course she had to be different and had a beaver) in a fight to the death that had the power to decide both races. In the end, there was no clear victor and referee, Aaron Heffernan, ordered the two combatants to kiss and make up, something we’ve seen a lot of today. Eleni has made her self quite visible today and shown an increasing willingness to engage with her opponent’s policies. On Costello’s promise to publish a “Dummy’s guide to the SU” she said that it was a good idea but it needed to be put across in video format. She also expressed an interest in planning to create online personal profiles for all class reps possibly coupled with a discussion forum, to encourage students to get in contact and avail of them more. This is the kind of output that we’ve wanted to see from Eleni all week. No longer is she playing the experience card. She’s now expressing tangible and measurable ways to solve the “Communications problem.” Game on.
Costello continued with his “Ginger snaps” publicity stunt today and it’s still going down well with the students on the ground. Maybe I’m just cranky after a long week but I think Costello needs to pull something else out of the hat for next week. We get it! You’re ginger. Move on. The “Dummy’s guide” is innovative but the publicity might be getting a little stale. Today saw “mock ups”of the potential guide’s proposed cover design being thrown up all over campus. Costello campaign manager, Ronan Burtenshaw said ,”We’ve had a very positive reaction to the guide. Students not involved in the union seem to feel that not enough has been done to make them aware of its workings & though the guide was a good first step.” This is definitely a step in the right direction for the Carlow man but lads, cool it with the ginger stuff. There’s more than enough policy on both sides of the fence to fight a fairly-matched battle on the policy ground.
Education:
Rachel Barry tangles with Darragh Haugh, Costello Co-Campaign Manager Photo: Tom Lowe
Slow day on the Education front. Both candidates have really dulled down now that the mud-slinging has come to a head. This blogger isn’t sure if he wants to laugh or cry about this race anymore. On the other hand, Rachel Barry suggested a dis-satisfaction with the EC ruling to take 30 t-shirts off her for the week. She said that certain other candidates in other races had been fined the same amount for offences that she deemed greater than her own. She is not the only candidate to express annoyance with the EC and this is something that UT will be looking into in greater detail in our “Election Special” next Tuesday.
Welfare:
