punditry.ca — uncovering DSU elections

pun·dit –noun

1.  a learned person, expert, or authority.
2.  a person who makes comments or judgments, esp. in an authoritative manner; critic or commentator.

[dictionary.com]

No where in that definition does it read “trained journalist”, “media specialist”, or “your mother” – so no, we’re not always going to be nice, we’re not always professional and you won’t always agree with us but we’ve all had more than enough experience to be ‘learned persons’ capable of ‘mak[ing] judgments’.

On Thursday, I headed down to Sexton Campus to visit the T-Room and check out the “Election Kick off Party” from 3pm-6pm.

Henry Whitfield* and I walked down together, making us the first to arrive followed shortly after by Ben Wedge. The Elections Committee and Kris Osmond were not far behind. After sharing a beer with some of the elections committee, my fellow pundit, Zhindra, and my father, I noticed a few more candidates begin to swagger in. Maggie Lovett, travel mug in tow, arrived on the scene and was followed shortly after by Chris Saulnier (coming from a lengthy midterm) and Evan Price. Hannah Dahn, entourage included, showed up roughly the same time as current VPI Mark Hobbs.  Tim Hiltz, and his campaign manager Nancy Praught, came around the same time, charmingly comfortable with the company.

Late comers were Neil Bailey (with 2010-2011 Gazette Opinions Editor, Rachel, by his side), Carly Nicholson (who took the time to introduce herself), Kayla Kurin (in a darling green dress, saddled up next to Sarah Bouchard, committed DSUer) and Karl Dempsey (who I took the liberty of approaching, as I am intrigued by him).

Notable items about the afternoon:

- Bailey is the new 2007 Jason Pelley.His confident repartee and quirky nature remind me a great deal of the 2007 Presidential Underdog, Jason Pelley. What’s more, he’s an advocate for sustainability and although he may not have the plethora of experience Pelley had, he has learned that having a pretty girl named Rachel with you always helps.
- So many candidates sat idle. I don’t understand – wasn’t this a chance to get out and meet people? Why are you sitting and drinking with your friends?
- Whitfield worked the room like an experienced politician. That is to say, the charm was thick, the conversation was fluffy and the laughs were slightly stifled.
- Price is a force to be reckoned with. Although he has his work cut out for him, in my opinion, his level of dedication and amount of knowledge is impressive. When questioned on his “carbon footprint” (because he travels from Truro to attend classes), Price mentioned his classes are compounded into two days on campus, equal to a student from, say, Cole Harbour, driving in four-five days a week.
- Saulnier remains a front runner. To the untrained eye (haha), his outgoing personality effectively masks the power hungry politico lurking within. You’re so blinded by his smile and bright eyes that you don’t notice he’s been chatting shamelessly about his resume for twenty minutes.

Disappointingly, no Debogorski in sight on Thursday. Christian Browne was a no-show. Surprisingly, considering he frequents the TRoom, no Glenn Blake during the allotted time. Incumbent Rob LeForte was in Ottawa at a lobbycon and couldn’t make the event.

After getting the chance to speak to some of the candidates, I am in awe of their determination and unwavering, yet jovial, conviction. I stand firm by my predictions and opinions, however, I am now more excited about the coming full week of campaigning. Typically, Day 4-6 (in this year’s case, it will be 6-8) is where things really begin to pick up. In other words, it’s only a matter of time before the proverbial shit hits the fan.

xoxo,
gossip girl

*For those confused and/or interested parties, I was previously registered as Whitfield’s official agent. This was because I was working on a few of his campaign points with him. I have since resigned, on account of my affiliation with punditry.ca and in efforts to be more readily available to the elections committee, should the need for help arise. If I am to illuminate my “allegiances”, the readers of punditry should know I attended LeForte’s highschool senior semiformal as his date, Hiltz and I used to play online Family Feud together, Saulnier is my Dartmouth homeboy, I trained Lovett at the Info Desk and she is now the eco-friendly voice inside my head, Debogorski and I enjoy the occasional on-the-run conversation, and I still find Bailey attractive.