Grab'n'run

EUSA. Take your money. Then forget the people? It costs £30 for people to become EUSA Life Members. It costs a certain sum of money (I must admit I don't know how much exactly), to become an Associate Member. You even have to give them an e-mail address (or at least you are given the chance to give EUSA your e-mail address). So it shouldn't be too difficult for them to get in touch.

Apparently, it is. EUSA hasn't bothered to (officially) contact any of the Life or Associate Members to tell them that there is an election on. Or that they could stand for one position being elected. Or that they'll need to register in advance to vote online. No, none of the above. So does this mean EUSA don't care, or are just into the business of taking your money and then forgetting about you?

Josh, Tom, Gordon & Anna - care to respond?

Looking Forward ...

Many people have asked me over the last few days for my thoughts, predictions and other ideas for the races that are going to happen in 12 months time. It's a hard one to really scope out.

Thinking back to twelve months ago, the money then was that I was would run again this year - against Josh & Adam - in a re-run of last year's External Convener battle. People suggested that Tom French & Steven Lauder would slug it out against Sara Bodle running for VPSA. No one would have mentioned Ben, Anna or Bruce for VPAA and Kwan was fairly unsure if he'd stand again. And Chris Arnold was as anti-EUSA as you could get, let alone thinking about a stab at VPS. Twelve months ago, so many varied names were being suggested from within those elected back then, that you might have put money against any of them.

To use the Grand National analogy a final time - predicting this far out, is like attempting to predict the runners in that race, without seeing what they do in between, knowing their form in the mean time, knowing their handicaps and their advantages.

In twelve months, EUSA could be a very different political animal, and the forthcoming year's Sabbs (those who have just been elected) could turn people on or off to EUSA depending on what they do.

Looking at it objectively, you can pick anyone on CoM or SRC Exec or in SRC and say "they will run because ..." and make your own reasons. People like Katherine Sellar, Nick Ward and Guy Bromley are inevitably going to be linked with standing next year. People who've just been elected for the first time may also be linked with a possible race next year. The issue is - as I say above - what will the next 8 months bring before people begin to make their minds up?

What about the people who aren't "EUSA people" currently? The likes of Will Searle, Chris Arnold and Chris Williams - people who before the beginning of February most people hadn't heard about, and most people would never have imagined standing.

What I want to see is a completely different thing (forgive the political sounding-ness of what follows). I want to see elections for Sabbaticals that are well challenged and where the electorate has a big cross-section of people to choose from. I want to see people from outside EUSA stand, and take part in elections. And I want to see new ideas in the election campaigns. Of course there are people I'd like to see stand and then go on to win, but this far out, I don't know if they will stand come next February.

Put simply - to predict now would be foolhardy, and the merits of it would be very questionable. Feel free to comment.

Post-Race Analysis - VPAA

It's hard to critique a race in which all four of the candidates were running and standing on nearly exactly the same issues. With the candidates all approaching the race with the same stand point, and the real lack of tension between them (come on, have you ever seen such a bunch of nice opponents), the only thing going for this race was the fact that four people were standing. That and perhaps the old/new Labour battle: Bruce is a senior Labour Club member, appearing in a party broadcast (as seen on YouTube) for the Labour Party, so it was perhaps a surprise that the majority of Labour Club members were on Ben's team ... or more crucially that Ben was on Josh's team, something I had seen when he went into a Josh campaign meeting on Tuesday night.

The fight itself played out like the Presidential race from last year, except that this time new Labour (Ben) didn't defeat Green (Anna). Anna's win obviously was a shining moment for the Green/P&P group (contrast Tim Gee's reaction with Anna, with that of Josh), and I'm not too surprised she won. As I said to her 4 weeks ago at the Politics Away Weekend, she was always going into this race as odds-on favourite, more so especially as the only female sabb candidate. She went for the Sabrina Russo Method: pretty picture on the posters, combined with a strong manifesto. I doubt it was all down to this, but in an election which didn't set the pulses racing, it's hard to tell.

It'll be an interesting year in the next SRC, with Bruce returned to Mathematics and Ben to History & Classics, it'll only be Kwan not at the SRC, which is a step down after 2 years of heavily committed time on many EUSA and Uni committees. I would like to see Kwan make a return - hopefully in the October elections as Physics Rep, and I am sure that Bruce & Ben will continue to do a damn good job in their respecitve schools.

Live Results - VPAA

Now the VPAA results,

After 3 Schools, Anna is leading Kwan, 25-15
After Law & Medicine (5 Schools), Anna is leading Ben 169-144
After 9 Schools (inc Vet & Politics), Anna is leading Ben 353-239
After 12 Schools, Anna is leading Ben 493-325
After 15 Schools (inc BioSci), Anna is leading Ben 726-473
After 18 Schools (inc GeoSci), Anna is leading Ben 938-647

With 4 remaining, Anna is leading Ben 1275-854
At the end of Round 1, Kwan - 715; Anna - 1359; Bruce - 401; Ben - 941
At the end of Round 2, Kwan - 767; Anna - 1467; Ben - 1049
At the end of Round 3, Anna - 1771; Ben - 1239

Anna Davidson is the next EUSA VPAA

Congrats to Anna - no idea what her song was!

The Home Run ...

The final fences are gone, and all that is between the candidates and the 1900hrs voting shut down is the home run. Traditionally this is when nearly every candidate campaigning enters Pollock for one last try at getting votes out of the Freshers ... but it appears quite in Pollock thus far, and from speaking to the candidates earlier today, it appears most aren't going to come down to Pollock, citing the fact that many got a bad reception last night.

So with the clock running down, the runners and riders are approaching the finishing line - but let's not forget that in the Grand National, that last bit of the run in has been the undoing of many - anyone remember Devon Loch?

75 minutes to go ...

Edit (@1830hrs): I was wrong - the last minutes of the campaign brought out Anna, Stuart, Josh and of course this year's election couple - Adam & Tom. I suppose its ironic that having seen them start their campaigns together, they are ending it together.

Clock's Ticking ...

As the candidates bed down for a bit of sleep, and as I start knocking back the coffee for the essay all nighter that lies ahead, a quick commentary on Day 1 of the election itself. With most people now thoroughly shattered, thoroughly exhausted and - quite possibly - thoroughly beyond the point of caring, the voting started.

According to sources over 2300 people had logged on and casted at least a vote for a candidate in a category by shortly after 3pm. How this compares with previous years is difficult to estimate. Who does a high turnout favour? What does this mean for voting through the evening (traditionally the busiest time) over night, or throughout day two? Will people actually care by the end of day two, or will they just say "I've already voted" to every leaflet they are offered tomorrow?

Lunch time outside the main library brought a real host of candidates - some in differently coloured T-Shirts, some who weren't. Also on offer was this year's best campaign gimmick - Will Searle & Frankenstein. This really brought something different to the election. Also amusing that Gordon & Ben chose the same coloured T-shirts from the many on offer; H&M must be doing very well from the many T-Shirts bought, and I'd be surprised if you could get a yellow one anywhere in Edinburgh!

This evening, Pollock Security decided not to allow any flyering outside the JMC, so it was door-to-door knocking for all the candidates, including Stuart, KT, Anna and various members from other campaign teams. How effective is doorstepping? We'll wait and see.

So the questions begin - will MyEd run ok tomorrow, or will the servers crash? If so, when? Will the Registry problem that plagued last year's Sabbatical results happen again? What results will come first? In fact, what time will the first results appear?

Debating Hall, starting sometime after 8pm, is where you'll find out first. And if you're really lucky, I may do some live blogging of the results, and quotes that start coming out.

But that depends on this essay going well ...

Turning for Home

Having negotiated the Presidential Debates, the candidates have less than 36hrs to convince the electorate that they are indeed the right people for the job, as they turn for home in this marathon race.

First off - congratulations to Tim Goodwin and the current Sabbs for a very successful Presidential Debate: the Debating Hall was full, there was something of an atmosphere, but the one problem that still remained was that the majority of people in the room already knew who they were going to vote for. The question remains, how to get "non-hacks" involved and interested.

So what happened at the Debates? Well to be brutally honest, not much. The debates lacked the fiery passion and biting comment between the candidates that one might have expected. In fact only one particular thing stands out - Tom French admitted that he cannot deliver on his manifesto: after being questioned by Tim Gee about the promises he has made (many of which are already being delivered), Tom said that his manifesto was more or less undeliverable. It's a statement like that, that the electorate should know about, and it is a shame that the majority won't.

The other candidates last night all performed, but special mention must go to Chris Williams: I came to the Debates not knowing much about him, and quite sceptical about all he stood for - but the way Chris spoke last night about certain issues, put him far ahead of Adam Ramsay & Josh MacAllister. Chris realised that standing is not about being a EUSA Hack, and that it is about getting involved and getting "ordinary students" involved. Adam, however came across as rather patronising and attempted to put Chris down at every opportunity.

In the VPAA battle, you still couldn't separate them with a cigarette paper - all have very similar policies, and their performances last night were all very similar and I for one can't call the elections.

So, the candidates have negotiated the "country three" fences, and there don't appear to have been any real fallers (other than maybe Tom French) - six fences out, and the long home run in, its going to be an interesting race.

Rocky Territory

You should always know where you're standing, but it seems Anna Davidson made a slight error on this part yesterday, a source has told me.

In a Geology Class yesterday, she said "As most of us here wont be working with our degrees i will campaign for transferable skills"... unfortunately for Anna, Geology is one area where most people do work in their degrees - according to the same source, "90% of 2:1 or better and 75% of 2:2 students work in postgrad, the industry, teaching or other related industries".

Dodgy ground it seems for Miss Davidson.

Another Day, Another Flyer

The Sunday before election day brings out its usual round of "Pollock Drop" campaigning. With Adam & Tom (the usual double act/couple) already staking claim to the JMC on Saturday Lunch (and with rumours now circulating of them breaking the rules to go canvassing on Saturday), a number of other candidates were also seen out and about in Pollock - all armed with the trusty flyer, and the spiel to give to candidates.

I ask one very important question: this evening, Tom French claims to have visited each and every room in Pollock. Thus far he has had three hours of campaigning/door-to-door time in the blocks and there are over 2000 rooms in Pollock. Either he is super human or he has broken the rules: which is it? Yesterday Adam & him were in the JMC flyering, and had to be removed ... will Graham Boyack finally act and do something decisive about this rule breaking?

Also seen on site were KT, Ben and Anna in the VPAA battle and also Chris Arnold in the VPS race. With less than 4 days left til the polls close (and I'm beginning to think that it can't come soon enough), its beginning to hot up another notch.

Looking at ... The Association (Sabbs)

So with the nominations closed, and whilst the candidates are furiously working away touching up their manifestos before the Monday deadline, and everyone pouring over the details in everyone else's battle plans, now is the time to consider the election at hand. Who's standing, what does the initial out look mean, and the rest.

So President first. Well, whilst I'd like to suggest it would be a three way battle, Adam & Josh do have the front running ground. Josh's teaser campaign might leave it late for him to show who he really is, but I've no idea if there are sufficient hits to his website to make up for this. Adam's website is "still coming" (I was in this position last year, so won't throw too many stones), but it does currently look like an extention of the Mark Ballard factory. It looks tacky, and compared with what has been so far a very poor poster campaign (more of which later), it must be hurting. Chris Williams - well, who is Chris? No website. No posters - although there are some rumours circulating about why. Chris however has one key advantage - no political slime that comes with Josh or Adam. If he can get a message out to the voters that he doesn't have the messy political background of the two "heavy hitters" this may play well with people who are sick of EUSA hacks.

Vice President Academic Affairs comes next. It is still very difficult to split any of these candidates. KT's website is now online, and is looking very smart and sleek. No posters are up as yet, but the website makes up for this - especially a very interesting section showing his comparative perfomance against the other candidates. Anna's site is more bare bones still - flash driven, it'll no doubt annoy a few people, but it does lack in content. Bruce's site is also now online, and is very simple, but very effective. There's a lot of stuff about Bruce and its presented in a simple easy manner (like KT's) which will make a lot of people a lot happier. Ben's site is moving slowly, and now includes the yellow used in the Joshesque Teaser posters.

Vice President Services - well this is where it gets dirty. Tom French seems to be having a go at anyone and everyone on the EUSA forums, and whilst this won't play out on a larger scale, the more people that become interested in the elections the more will find out. His website is up, and it is already causing controversy. There is so much on this that needs discussing, I'm not sure where I should start, so this time round I'm going to simply say that using photos of Tom and current Sabbs almost seems like endorsement from them (especially on the front page), and that using supporting quotes makes it seem like the hard sell. I'm not sure. Stuart on the other hand looks to be winning a softer kind of vote, with his interesting slogan. I've seen some of the forthcoming publicity, which does look interesting and could be a vote winner - how good it is can't be judged yet, and if it really will engage people at all is more difficult to guess. However, Tom & Stuart are ahead of Chris Arnold, who's website isn't up as yet, but is promised by this weekend, along with a manifesto thereafter. However - much like the other Chris - if it is a non-political student people want, then Chris is the choice. However much Tom bleets on about not being a Labour member, the choice is stark between "Green-Labour" (Tom), "Tory-Labour" (Stuart) or something non-Labour, non-party poltical.

Vice President Societies & Activities is probably the most difficult to really work out. Gordon's website is still coming - all we have is all we've seen for nearly two weeks with "Flash Gordon". Will Searle may have stolen a slight lead with a fresh looking, very different website. Although not much is there, it looks a lot cleaner, and I can imagine some content will bring it to life.

Societies Convenor has been returned unopposed, which means Katherine Sellar won't have a tough race like Tom French & Steven Lauder did last year. That means no surprises either.

Finance Committee is a mixture. For the first time in years, there is an election for Senior Member of Finance Committee, and with the previous post holder no longer able to stand, the man who took his place at the Bye Elections will face off against the Sabbatical who is probably disliked the most in recent times. Neil versus Tim Cobbett will be interesting - as I've said before the influence on "Diana" on this election will be a deal breaker. What is really disappointing is that for the Finance Student Members, there are only 5 people standing, compared with 10 last year. There's a distinct lack of Sabbatical candidates taking this as 'fall-back' option and so this will be a tight race.

This being the top of ballot, there's going to be an awful lot of development and it will no doubt happen very quickly.

Poster Politics

This year, the posters from two candidates have gone up earlier and at a speed I've not seen before. With 10 Sabbatical Candidates declared, I thought I'd have an early look at the posters.

First up the Presidential duo. Josh is running a teaser campaign - this evening saw his second run of teasers on red half (or third) A3. Simple posters, which now suggest Smart Thinking. Cheap Drinking going to be the next ones?

Compare and contrast with Adam Ramsay's #1 for something-or-other. Printed on white paper, I have to say they are a little dull, and I'm surprised Adam isn't going green with his Green Party Credentials to match Josh's Labour Red.

Adam's posters are a mug shot, and a bad one at that - much like my election publicity from last year. They also seem to suggest he is God's gift to the electorate by being #1 at everything. I do wonder how many of his posters there are. They also seem to be up everywhere, including in Pollock Halls where he covered every lamp post on Sunday late afternoon. They seemed to be doing less well in the overnight rain.

Anna Davidson has indeed gone for the pretty girl image on her VPAA posters - although they seem heavily photoshopped and the image quality seems to suffer from it.

Tom French - well his posters are across the whole of the central area and they seem to have 101 different pledges on them. For a VPS candidate, its interesting to see they are all set infront of the non-Union building that is McEwan Hall. I think people are going to get quickly bored of the posters, and I wonder if he's got more of them than he knows what to do with.

3 weeks is a long time in poster politics.

A Week is a Long time ... (Sabbs)

Firstly, apologies for the tardiness of the last two days without so much as a posting.

The political shape of these elections has changed dramatically in the last 48hrs, and now the mud really is starting to fly. A quick look at the EUSA Election website (http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/elections) shows that there are over 51 candidtures, but worryingly only from 28 people. There must be a drive to get more students to stand, to make sure that people are involved - whatever their backgrounds are.

Sabbatical wise, the VPAA race is becoming very interesting, with the biggest field for the seat in its existence. Bruce Golding (http://www.brucegolding.net) was the second candidate to declare, and his website is firmly under construction. Known as a member of SRC for a while now, the only other details that I really know about Bruce is that he is a heavily involved Labour Party Member, appearing most recently in a Party Political Broadcast for them. Next up in Ben Politowski (with the aptly titled http://www.poliwhat.com) - I've heard his name before, I believe he is left leaning, but I await his policies with interest. Joining the field most recently, (on Friday) is the much expected candidture of Anna Davidson (http://www.freewebs.com/annadavidson). Anna will - as I no doubt told her last weekend at the Politics Away Weekend - most likely pick up a vote simply by being the old girl in the field and depending on how she plays it could do well a la Sabrina Russo. With KT Chan in this field, this could be the election that interests a lot of people.

Across in the VPSA race, the real interest is by Will Searle. I can't claim to know Will, and without a website as yet, I have nothing to go on. I'm obviously pleased that Gordon Aikman isn't being given a free ride to the position, so an interesting and exciting election could be in prospect.

More to follow no doubt - I really do hope we have some more Sabb candidates.

Hurry Up. And Slow Down.

After a manic opening two days, the third day of the campaigning brought a much slower paced day. Only one new candidate (in any category), who is my close friend, Kwan Ting Chan, who is taking a second crack at the whip to win the VPAA battle. His website - http://www.ktchan.info - is under construction, and things will no doubt progress quickly thereafter. He faces a challenge from Anna Davidson, and possibly a further two candidates.

Elsewhere, the EUSA General Meeting created Tom French's opening publicity shot, handing out leaflets to those entering. Is it a case of too quick, too soon? Will he use his resources up quickly, and be left stranded with nothing at the end? Will his posters - up in Bristo Square - survive three weeks of Edinburgh's weather, and the snow.

Time will tell - but the pace has definitely dropped, except behind the scenes where all the candidates appear to be regrouping and plotting their next moves ... for some, this is deciding when to put in their nomination form!