Unique Campaign Tactics Key to Gusmorino's Victory

The successful Undergraduate Council presidential campaign of Paul A. Gusmorino '02 and Sujean S. Lee '03 departed radically from winning tickets in years past.

In most other races, election observers say, student group endorsements have proved the key to victory.

Current President Fentrice D. Driskell '01 and her running-mate John A. Burton '01 were endorsed by the Black Students Association (BSA), the Black Men's Forum, Perspective and the Radcliffe Union of Students (RUS), among others, and turnout among these groups' constituencies was very high.

This year, Gusmorino and Lee demonstrated that campaign organization and turning out the voters can fill the gap in vote-getting that endorsements seem to produce.

For months, council members have said that Stephen N. Smith '02 appeared to be the "heir-apparent" to the Driskell presidency. Driskell and Smith are close friends, and Driskell worked hard for Smith's campaign over the past two weeks.

During the first week of the campaign, observers still believed Smith would win easily. Almost every major student group endorsement went to Smith, from the College Democrats to the liberal magazine Perspective.

Other Smith endorsers included Delta Upsilon, the Progressive Jewish Alliance, the Environmental Action Committee, the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA), and the public service organization EMPOWER.

And so Gusmorino's victory came as a surprise to many council observers--especially considering his 500-vote margin.

"They said it couldn't be done, but we did it!" Gusmorino campaign manager Todd E. Plants '01 shouted to supporters at Gusmorino's victory party Friday night. Throughout the campaign, Gusmorino's campaign departed from tradition, beginning on the day one, when the campaign put up posters on 11 x 17 paper--double the size of the normal posters.

The Gusmorino-Lee website, which included music and full motion Flash animation, left other candidates scrambling to liven up their own Internet pretences. Smith's webmaster spent eight hours last Wednesday adding Flash animation to Smith's website. Likewise, other campaigns, including Smith's, began campaigning at Loker Commons' Fly-By a day after Gusmorino's volunteers handed out more than 300 flyers during lunch.

Throughout the last week of the campaign, Gusmorino's orange-clad volunteers appeared to be everywhere. From 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. everyday, a group of ten students handed out flyers and held giant orange Gusmorino-Lee signs outside the Science Center--dwarfing the other campaigns.

Gusmorino and Lee's campaign focused on two key groups: the Yard and the Quad. Both spent time campaigning at the shuttle stop outside Currier House, and they posted signs in the Quad Houses advocating :55-after shuttles to help alleviate the overloaded shuttles at 10 and 11 a.m.

They campaigned nightly throughout the Yard, with Gusmorino ending his campaign at 3 a.m. on Friday morning.

Gusmorino capitalized on a couple of key endorsements, though, including The Crimson's, and trumpeted the support of the majority of current council members. Thirty of the 40 or so current council members responded to an e-mail survey asking about their preferences in the current race. Sixteen members--more than half of the respondents--said they supported Gusmorino, with Smith drawing seven votes and council treasurer Justin A. Barkley '02 drawing four votes.

--Staff writer Garrett M. Graff can be reached at ggraff@fas.harvard.edu.