Though the winning candidate will not occupy a real political office, the candidates in the May 7 mock congressional election still hope to have a higher turnout than Bowdoin Student Government (BSG) elections and exceed the national percentage of voters who cast a ballot.
The yearly mock elections are run by students in Professor Christian Potholm's Conflict Simulation and Resolution class as a final project. According to Noah Buntman '08, one of the two candidates running in this year's race, previous elections have drawn more than 800 students to the polls.
Jake Sack '08 and Buntman both said voter turnout is the focus of their campaigns.
"That means the administration has to listen," said Sack.
The class split into two debate groups at the beginning of the semester, and each selected a candidate for the mock election two weeks ago. Sack described an election as "the ultimate debate."
The campaign teams include campaign managers, pollsters, media coordinators, financial advisors, and fieldwork coordinators who all promote the candidate.
Sack and Buntman will discuss their positions in a debate on April 30 before the election. The winner gets to propose his initiatives to the administration with the expectation of results.
The candidates agree on a number of issues, including increasing the number of Safe Ride vans, expanding the One Card program to allow students to use Polar Points at Brunswick restaurants, offering more options such as a deli and pasta bar every night in the dining halls and a wider variety of food at Super Snack, and adding printers to Smith Union and campus dorms.
Buntman said his campaign's emphasis on improving community service culture at Bowdoin differentiates him from his opponent and candidates of past years. Buntman also noted that he has discussed "how to change the way Bowdoin students perceive their community service" with Coordinator of Community Service Programs Sarah Seames.
Buntman said improving students' attitudes toward community service will start with student-led initiatives.
He is also proposing more lighting on campus and exploring the feasibility of restoring free birth control for students at Dudley Coe Health Center.
Sack said the most substantial initiative in his platform is Pub delivery, something that previous mock-election candidates have attempted unsuccessfully to achieve.
"Delivery is a bold campaign strategy because there is a feeling that it's been tried and can't happen," said Sack. "I don't like accepting that."
"If we win it, we'll get done," said Sack's Chief of Staff Ann Zeigler '08.
She said the campaign has approached members of the administration with financial estimates that demonstrate the feasibility of pub delivery.
"A lot of it is Jake," said Ziegler. "He goes above and beyond."
"When he meets with people, he's clear, firm, and passionate," said Campaign Manager Ingrid Anid '08.
Sack is also supporting increased funding for unpaid internships through the Career Planning Center.
"Because Noah and Jake are similar candidates and have similar platforms, one deciding factor will be name recognition," said Rules Mistress Valerie Young '08, whose role in the election is akin to that of an elections commissioner.
Both candidates have contacted students through polls and face time to establish which issues are important to the student body. "We want to get Noah to meet everyone on campus and shake as many hands as he can," said Buntman's Campaign Manager Julia Seltzer '09.
Through dorm and college house visits and online polls, the candidates have considered student input in creating their platforms. "The first week was not so much campaigning, but going around and talking to people and finding out what they want changed," said Buntman, who said he went around with a notebook and recorded student ideas and suggestions.
"In three weeks we have an opportunity to get everyone on campus involved," he said.
Young said the first-year dorms are good campaign targets. "The campaigns have similar strategies-that is, identifying their core group of voters, establishing their issues, and getting people interested in the campaign and their candidate," she said.
Buntman's slogan, "mock election, real change," expresses the tradition of results the Government 361 elections have produced in the past. Super Snack, longer hours at Dudley Coe, cellular antennae on campus, and food in the library are all results of mock election campaigns.
The campaigns have scheduled a number of events scheduled to increase the visibility of their respective candidates. The Sack campaign will be holding a "Get Saked Out" party at Baxter House on May 2 and a Jake Sack night at Thorne next week with a DJ and a raffle. Buntman's campaign has planned more dorm visits and food in the library with an opportunity to speak to him.
Young said that in her observations, Sack's team seams to be focusing on sporting events and its Web site (www.bowdoin.edu/~jsack), while Buntman has favored more individual meeting and events including a "fireside chat" with Director of Safety and Security Randy Nichols before Ivies Weekend.
In order to simulate a real political race, the campaigns are required to raise their own funds for events. Local businesses will sponsor candidates and donate free food and gift certificates. The candidates have also raised funds through bake sales.
"Student-to-student contributions are the best," said Sack.
Anid and Ziegler both said that fundraising is one of the principal challenges of the campaign.
According to Potholm, who has made the mock election as part of his class for almost 20 years, the exercise reflects the broader political landscape because the two candidates agree on so many issues.
"It's a microcosm of the Democratic presidential primary," he said.
The mock campaigns were originally initiated by students. In his fall semester class about Maine politics, students have the opportunity to participate in a campaign, said Potholm. Second-semester students rarely used to have that option. The mock election provides a way for those students to get practical experience in politics.
"There's only so much you can learn from textbooks and articles," said Zeigler. "It's so much more beneficial than anything you could learn sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture."
"It's hard work, but really fun to see the results," she added.
Young, who worked recently on New Hampshire Democrat Jeanne Shaheen's U.S. Senate campaign, said she sees parallels between that experience and the mock election project.
"I think [what] the campaign managers are learning is how to manage a team and motivate people, and the other members of the campaign are learning how to get jobs done in the face of adversity," said Young.
This year's election has another twist. "Noah and I are good buddies," said Sack. Although Buntman made mention of some mudslinging in the past, both candidates stressed running an honest and direct campaign with the shared vision of high voter turnout.
"If we can get 40 to 50 percent [of the student body to vote], that's better than the national average in real elections, and we've accomplished a great thing," said Potholm.