Monday Morning Quarterbacking

Christian Duque and I are probably a little obsessed to be commenting on SG politics long after we left. But then, I comment on it because what else can I blog about that no one else is writing? LOL.

Anyway, Christian has both good things and bad things to say about the recent 2008 elections on UF campus. Given that, I’ll add my own 2 cents to the conversation.

The Orange and Blue Party won 11 out of 47 seats in the Senate, compared to 34 for the FBK-backed Gator Party (with 2 vacant seats). O&B also won just 37% in the Presidential race. Ouch. Still, this is the best showing for the GDIs since Unite’s hard-fought Spring 2006 campaign. And I think a Senate outcome of 11/47 based on 37% of the vote is pretty darn good, considering that in Spring 1999 Vision won 10/40 based on 40% and in Spring 2001 SUN won 14/40 based on 49.93% of the vote.

Where were they weakest? O&B fought to just a tie in Engineering, which is pretty weak for the GDIs. They got creamed badly in the lowerclassmen seats, not entirely unusual for the GDIs. They put up hardly any fight at all in the medical colleges, which was a missed opportunity. Their Exec candidates won the Law School, but without a candidate there, all it did was enable an Independent to come close but still lose to Gator.

What do they need to do going forward?

1) Don’t sweat their silly name – as long as FBK is using the Gator label, the GDIs can be silly too and use Orange & Blue.

2) Build the brand. They should take the time over the next few months to build the O&B brand by fighting to enact their platform – because God knows the Gator Party will only put up a perfunctory effort on their own platform. Even 1 Senator can force issues into the public domain – if they aren’t afraid to fight and to enlist the Alligator in providing media coverage of the fight.

3) Organize. Even in the summer months, the O&B leadership should be scouring the campus looking for rising stars and working to ensure their people are placed in the districts they want to win. If O&B can’t put a full slate up, especially in Districts A and B, I say don’t bother trying – either divert your people into apartments east of campus (in District C, a historically winnable district for GDIs) or down Archer Road (in the large District D), or have the candidates in the unwinnable districts just campaign in other areas. Try working over parts of the IRHA and the residence hall organizations – O&B might be able to win Hume, but with the districts being what they are, it should be fairly easy to win many more seats on campus.

4) Realize that the Fall campaign is going to be tough. Don’t set high expectations, but don’t give up without a fight. A good fall campaign can deliver nearly as many seats as a good Spring campaign, if you know what you’re doing and can bring together the same level of support.