The U[SG]-tube elections

With youtube.com playing an increasingly prominent role on the national political scene, this year's USG candidates also crafted online ads in an effort to bolster their vote tallies.

From serious to silly, their videos reflect the changing nature of USG elections, as the internet makes even student government campaigns a subject of public attention on and off campus.

"He came up to me, he started talking to me, you know, introduced himself, just incredibly nice," Jon Feyer '09 said at the start of the video for Kenton Murray '09, who ran unsuccessfully for vice president. "Um, I think he might have thought I was a chick, but still, he's a really nice guy."

The video goes on to show students expressing what Murray called "non-serious" support for him. "Kenton Murray is a badass motherfucker," one student said, while a second declared that "he stalked me once." A third said, "If you're not with Kenton, you're with the terrorists."

Murray's video was a response to an ad in support of vice president-elect Mike Wang '10. USG president-elect Josh Weinstein '09 also posted a video on YouTube.

Though most candidates for USG president and vice president in recent years have had campaign websites, this is the first year that candidates have taken to the digital airwaves.

Wang's video is a montage of friends describing qualities that would make him well-suited for the job. He was the first candidate to release a video, posting it on Nov. 27, the second day of the campaign.

Weinstein's video included endorsements from all four class presidents and earnest words from the candidate. The video has more than 3,600 views on YouTube, many of which came from the blog gawker.com, which linked to his and Wang's videos in a post yesterday.

Maia McWilliams '10, Wang's campaign manager, said the ad "was a bit of a rush job ... because we wanted our video to come out first."

The candidates' different approaches to their videos drew a variety of responses from viewers. One YouTube user who commented on Murray's video wrote, "Great vid, glad someone can keep his sense of humor during an election." But another said, "This is disappointing for a VP candidate."

"Many people came up and told me they loved the video — around 40 or 50," Murray said in an email.

Wang said that the casual, humorous tenor of Murray's video may have turned off some people because the USG vice presidency is a serious position.

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Nevertheless, candidates and their campaign managers said the internet proved an invaluable resource during their campaigns. "This entire election was run on the internet," McWilliams said. "Being able to use websites, YouTube videos and [facebook.com] was very important. No one looked at posters. It actually rained the day after the posters went up."

U-Council chair and USG presidential candidate Sarah Langberg '09, who did not produce a YouTube video, acknowledged the prominent role of the internet in this year's USG campaign. "It already is important to be web savvy, or have friends who are, in order to be successful in the major campus-wide elections," she said in an email. "The internet is certainly the fastest and most effective way to reach 4,800 voters."

"I think my chances were likely hurt by not having a link in my candidate statement to my website," she said, referring to the blurbs posted next to candidates' names on the online ballot for the USG elections. She noted that candidate statements were due early in the election process, before she had thought of having a website.

Langberg was less sure, however, whether her lack of a campaign video made a difference. "I think that [Weinstein's] YouTube video may have had a slight effect," she said, "but I think just the website in and of itself, and the fact that it was linked to his candidate statement on the ballot, made all the difference."

But Isaiah Miller '11, the coeditor and producer of Weinstein's video, said he thought Langberg's lack of a video might have been a liability. "I think that if she had had a video, it definitely would have helped," he said.

Though both Weinstein and Wang employed videos and websites as part of their campaign efforts, they said their digital materials did not guarantee victories. "The video is really the icing on the cake," Weinstein said. "It shows the kind of support that we have in the campaign, the time and effort we put into it and that we're really committed and creative."

Campaign videos, McWilliams said, "reinforce decisions more than make the decision" for voters. "This will start a new trend for future elections," she added.