First, a complaint about the voting process: why do they make it so hard to find out WHERE to vote? No wonder nobody votes. Now that I’ve said that, on to other issues:

There has been a bit of an uproar in The Chronicle about the Apathy Party’s absence from the debates. Let me show you the Apathy Party’s point of view:

How many people went to the debates? 100 at the Latter-day Saints Institute? Most of these people were planning on voting already. They will do some research, check out the Web sites, and talk to the candidates to find out what’s going on. They’ll be informed when they vote. Good for them!

But why are we preaching to the choir and ignoring the congregation? There are thousands of students out there who we’re neglecting when we’re at the debates. When do we reach out to them?

The purpose of a debate is to convince the voters to vote for you. Well, when only 13 percent of the students vote (and only 100 of them attend the debate), that’s like fighting over a fallen apple when there are dozens left on the tree (no offense, voters). I fail to see the point. I’m not saying that we should ignore the people who would vote anyway, but we need to put a lot more effort into reaching the 87 percent who don’t vote.

The political process, by its nature, is competitive. Why can’t we all just get along? If there was a little cooperation to get more people involved, things would be better for everybody. If I were to moderate a debate, I would move it outside to the middle of campus and send the candidates out to talk to the potential voters.

I’m not so concerned about getting people to vote for me. I just want to get them to vote. I’ll do anything to get people to vote. Ask me to shave my head to get someone to vote *buzz, buzz* I’m off to the barber. Ask me to invest time and money in a campaign that people think I have no chance of winning?done. While the other candidates were calling the righteous to repentance, I was busy telling people what ASUU can do for them. Many didn’t know about the student discount card. I don’t have one right now, because I pulled mine out of my wallet and gave it away. I was bringing in new voters.

I may irritate a few voters by not going to the debates (in which case, I apologize). But the people who didn’t go to the debate probably don’t know that I didn’t go either, and they don’t care anyway. So I’ll let the other candidates fight over a few nuggets while I go mining in the mother lode.

And a few comments about the campaign strategies:

“The only pie you’ll get from us is:

3.1415926535897932384626433832795028841971693993751058209749445923078164062862089986280342853421170679?

“We’re candidates, not candy dates.”