By Ryan Russell
Disclaimer: Take these predictions with a grain of salt. I obviously have no idea who will win, but I’m basing these guesses as objectively as possible on how receptive I think students will be to each individual’s personality and campaign.
President:
Rich Tao - 2:1
Why He’ll Win: Extremely likeable candidate with a deep understanding of Yale College’s current problems and historical position.
Why He’ll Lose: May lack ruthless political nature necessary to mobilize student body vote.
Harrison Marks – 3:1
Why He’ll Win: Experience and drive. As the reigning Treasurer, Harrison can point to his experiences on the e-board as a concrete strength. Harrison has been eyeing the Presidency for quite some time and has steadily built up his contacts throughout the school.
Why He’ll Lose: Blind ambition. Harrison’s apparent “March to the Presidency” has soured many students opinion of him as another YCC tool.
Katrina Landeta – 8:1
Why She’ll Win: Very involved with AASA and community service groups. May attract female vote.
Why She’ll Lose: Seems to be pretty overmatched by other candidates in just about every important Presidential characteristic.
Vice-President:
Emily Schofield – 2:1
Why She’ll Win: Undeniable Election and Executive Board experience.
Why She’ll Lose: Yalies may look for a changing of the guard on the E-board.
Jarrett Burks – 15:1
Why He’ll Win: Extremely likable individual who may have some sort of trick up his sleeve.
Why He’ll Lose: Lacks YCC and student government experience necessary for crucial Vice Presidency position.
Treasurer:
Jon Wu - 2:1
Why He’ll Win: Very likable, hard-working candidate with the ability to mobilize the freshman vote. O ya… and this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b7-dOl5OWg
Why He’ll Lose: Might be too much too soon. J Wu held down a FCC Presidency and YCC representative spot this year. Student body may resent his quick ascent up YCC ladder.
Will Alexander – 3:1
Why He’ll Win: Also a very likable candidate who has built solid contacts throughout the student body.
Why He’ll Lose: Will’s athlete and fraternity base is probably the least voting-day reliable on campus.
Secretary:
Abigail Cheung – Push
Why She’ll Win: Ability to mobilize freshman vote.
Why She’ll Lose: Lacks YCC experience.
Jasper Wang –Push
Why He’ll Win: Experienced, well-spoken YCC candidate who worked on solid YCC projects including Job-shadowing day and Credit/D/Fail reform.
Why He’ll Lose: Might lack the charm to turn the crucial freshman vote.
YSAC Chair:
Not sure about any of the candidates but I’ll give the edge to Colin Leatherbury because of his experience with Spring Fling.
UOFC:
No Idea.
23 responses so far ↓
1 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 7:50 am
Can you elaborate on the important Presidential characteristics? Maybe it’s just me, but Katrina Landeta is also likeable, and she too has experience and drive, which were the reasons you gave for why the others will win. As someone who knows all three candidates personally, I would be willing to venture that Katrina is more likeable than Rich, and has more actual drive than Harrison (that is, her desire to be President isn’t rooted in a sense of entitlement). What do they have that she doesn’t?
2 '10 // Apr 11, 2008 at 8:47 am
I don’t know the three Presidential candidates too well but have met all three and I will say that Katrina is by far the most likeable of the three. She is very genuine while the others are tools. Also, she did an amazing job with the Class of 2010 Dinner and just about stole all of our votes.
3 Ryan Russell // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:31 am
Alright so, Katrina is indeed likable and does have a good deal of experience (though I would argue less than Rich or Harrison). The problem is she doesn’t really have anything necessarily “Presidential” about her. In comparison to Rebecca (who I’ve considered to have done a great job this year) Katrina lacks the presence, self-assurance, and people-management skills that are necessary of a solid head officer. The other two candidates have these qualities (to varying degrees).
4 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 9:47 am
anonymous: i’m a big fan of rich, so i’m not going to make any sort of objective analysis. i’ll leave it at this - just go to the speech at davies on saturday from 2-4pm, you’ll understand then.
5 Jasper Wang // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:52 am
Push? NO CHARM?!! RyRuss we got beef now.
6 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Katrina Landeta has presence, self-assurance, people-management, and competence. She has a hand in almost every network at Yale and has the knowledge and drive to bring people together. She is really the only candidate who can effectively bridge the many different types of students at Yale and actually make a difference in our daily lives.
7 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 1:27 pm
i would actually argue that rich can be very politically-minded and if anything that would be his weakness.
8 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Harrison Marks is the biggest tool at Yale. He plots day and night about how he can conquer the student government- completely self-absorbed and fake. What experience can he point to- YCC botched Spring Fling yet again, does anyone actually notice anything they do? Vote for Rich- chill guy, genuinely cares, will get shit done.
9 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 4:11 pm
jon wu for change - yes wu can.
10 This blog is wack // Apr 11, 2008 at 6:47 pm
Although you have the disclaimer at the beginning of your post, the odds you post are so completely unsubstantiated that it’s ridiculous YDN is even allowing this on the website.
11 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 7:40 pm
I don’t know about the other candidates, but though Katrina may be involved in everything on campus, I think she’s spread herself too thin. My friend is the co- Asian American Cultural House social coordinator with her, and apparently, Katrina’s really dropped the ball for months now b/c of her other “more important” activities. There were several angry people who Katrina didn’t contact for weeks and weeks, and my friend had to pick up the slack. Not too impressive.
12 Agreed // Apr 11, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Could you be any more biased? Many know you’ve joined Rich’s campaign; for you to write this entry, let alone participate in this blog, is completely unethical.
YDN, do something about this - now.
13 Anonymous // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Katrina has no experience. She is incompetent and a resume padder. She should be embarassed.
14 me // Apr 11, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Harrison is not a tool, though he certainly does have YCC ambition. The thing about him is that after he wins the president, his ambition will drive him to run the best YCC he can and I think better than the other candidates can. Maybe you’d pick Rich on personality, but trust me that Harrison’s personality makes him a great candidate for YCC.
Colin Leatherbury is the right choice. But if you are going to pick anybody do not pick someone with no YSAC experience. You cannot effectively run a body without knowledge of how it works.
15 Anonymous // Apr 12, 2008 at 3:37 pm
This is one of the goofier things the News has ever done.
16 Anonymous // Apr 12, 2008 at 4:13 pm
harrison has cute stickers. just saying.
17 Ryan Russell // Apr 12, 2008 at 5:31 pm
Agreed & Anonymous(’s) - Though it is true that I do have opinions on who would do the best job, it is simply untrue that I am a part of any candidates campaign. In fact, I removed myself from or ignored any facebook groups that supported one candidate or another. I’m not pretending to present this blog as an unbiased account on behalf of the YDN; instead, I’m presenting my views as a former e-board candidate and current YCC representative. If you have any problems with this representation, either: 1. don’t read it or 2. come talk to ME (ryan.russell@yale.edu). It is very easy to anonymously bash a blogger but a lot different to sign your name next to your statement. If my views are indeed unsubstantiated, then you - as the informed individual - will be able to clearly see right through it.
18 Anonymous // Apr 13, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Anonymous #11 and #13-
You’re clearly trying to spin it that Katrina’s extensive involvement on campus is a bad thing, but I’ve actually heard a lot of good things about her from people who’ve worked with her. And if you think about it, maybe it does give her more relevant experience. She definitely seems to be the only candidate with a concrete plan for making the YCC something that students who aren’t on it actually care about.
Ryan Russell-
It’s not really a secret that you support Rich. It probably would have been better for you to abstain from writing about the presidential candidates.
19 Anonymous // Apr 13, 2008 at 6:05 pm
if by “his experience with Spring Fling” you mean unilaterally selecting mostly shitty artists with no attention to balance or the student opinion survey, then yeah, he would do a great job continuing ysac’s tradition of representing the “student body”
20 Anonymous // Apr 13, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Anonymous #18-
Is Katrina planning on dropping the other leadership positions she currently has if she becomes YCC President? If not, then I think her extreme involvement in other activities is a good reason for choosing another candidate. As much as Yalies hate to admit it, you can’t do it all. (Or at least you can’t do it all well). Just my opinion.
21 Travis Long // Apr 14, 2008 at 12:05 am
First off, I’d like to say that the creation of this blog was an excellent idea. The YDN just keeps on getting better and better.
Secondly, I would like to address an issue brought up by one of the s any0nomous writers, who is obviously a supporter of another YSAC candidate.
I will not contend that experience is not important, but I confidently assert that experience can easily be trumped by hard-work, dedication, and confidence.
You can have tons of experience, but the fact of the matter is, when it’s time to contract big name performers, just like when it’s time for big i-bankers to make big-deals, experience doesn’t mean you’re going to land the deal, but hard-work, dedication, and confidence does. You see, someone may have YSAC experience, but he may not be willing to make the so-called unreasonable calls, and he may not have the strategy to and know-how to get the job done.
Now, if I am elected as your YSAC Chair I have already committed myself to spending a good portion of my time doing due diligence to ensure that the Yale Students Activities Chair operates at its optimum level. In addition, I will spend a good portion of that time contacting many performers in advance in order to find out how much they will charge, and I will spend a massive amount of time working on expanding the YSAC Fund budget, and I will try to advertise the Yale Student Activities Committee to effective coordinators on campus so that the YSAC will have a strong and effective team to bring about the improvements I hope to bring about.
any0nomous, if you want to chat later, send me an email and we can talk, and I can show you my game-plan, and explain why it will work.
Catch me @ travis.long@yale.edu
Good luck with exams and your papers
22 Anonymous // Apr 14, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Anon. #20-
I’m pretty close with Katrina, and she has actually said that she would drastically minimize her involvement in other activities were she elected YCC president.
23 Anonymous // Apr 14, 2008 at 4:15 pm
harrison marks in the most divisive people at yale, and he only looks to climb the political ladder. rest assured that harrison is not looking to help people in any way, rather, he just want to advance his personal career. a note to harrison- grow a heart, try to attain some charm, and stop looking like snape from harry potter.
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