Let’s quickly look at some of the campaigning strategies of the two executive slates.
Michael Cruz and Steward Macgregor-Dennis jumped into the race early. Cruz has been in the ASSU for three years, the past two on the ASSU Senate (and recently assuming the role of ASSU VP when Kelsei Wharton stepped down). Macgregor-Dennis is currently an ASSU Senator and has been quite involved with the Stanford entrepreneurial community.
The Cruz/Macgregor-Dennis team seems to be focusing heavily on technology for their “Stanford 2.0” campaigning strategy. The slate launched their website, Stanford2.com, this past weekend, and Macgregor-Dennis claims it has already had 5,000 unique visitors since then. On Tuesday, Macgregor-Dennis marketed a Stanford 2.0 iPhone application, but it has not yet been approved by Apple so it is only in beta testing.
Tenzin/Vasquez, painted by some as the ASSU outsiders (though Tenzin is currently the ASSU Diversity Chair), seem to have taken a different approach to campaigning. Their website features less content than Cruz/Macgregor-Dennis’ website. But Tenzin/Vasquez seem to have more fliers up around campus (at least from what I’ve seen). The Cruz/Macgregor-Dennis slate doesn’t have their own fliers, but they have listed $30 worth of in-kind donations of SOCC fliers in their campaign budget submitted to the Elections Committee. They also estimate spending around $700 dollars on T-shirts and handbills. The Tenzin/Vasquez slate still has under $120 in campaign expenditures listed on their budget.
A determining factor in the race will likely be the Cruz/Macgregor-Dennis slate’s ability to reach students through online marketing to overcome the disadvantage of not having their own fliers in dorms. They seem to have done quite well at getting supporters to forward emails promoting their website and campaign. Beyond these efforts, however, the power of the endorsors will be very important. SOCC will conduct their get-out-the-vote effort, but the distribution of the endorsing publications (The Stanford Daily and The Stanford Review) could also swing many voters to Tenzin/Vasquez.
What do you think?