Day one of campaigning: Who started strong?
Campaigning for MSU president officially began at noon on Sunday, but not all of the seven candidates emerged at full force.
Jacob Brodka, David Campbell and James Dowdall wasted little time in launching their online and on-campus campaigns. Each lagged in certain areas, but generally appear to be frontrunners early in the race for the students union's top job.
Rory Yendt had some information on Facebook and was working on a website for most of Sunday, and then launched in the evening. Dan Fahey was still working on a campaign launch at the time, and little had been heard from Haman Man. Adrian Emmanuel began building his joke candidacy with a Facebook page and video.
The important campaigning won't really begin until Monday morning for the candidates, so there's still time for Emmanuel, Fahey, Man and Yendt to catch up on making a good first impression.
Here's our take on who won day one.
Website
Winner: Jacob Brodka
James Dowdall and Jacob Brodka launched live sites almost immediately, but Brodka's was stronger in design and content, except that his platform was only available in video form. Campbell's wasn't up until late sunday evening. Rory Yendt's site launched at around 8:30 p.m.
Facebook/Twitter
Winner: David Campbell
Campbell, with the help of his team and supporters, vaulted ahead of the pack in Facebook likes and was getting a lot of Twitter buzz. He was up over 300 likes by dinnertime on Sunday, and kept his feed interesting with photos from his video shoot.
Video
Winner: Jacob Brodka
Dowdall and Brodka launched videos right away. Brodka's got significantly more traffic, and was generally well-produced. In addition to his main video, Brodka launched another, interactive series of videos that contained his platform points. Campbell waited until 8 p.m. to launch a video after teasing it throughout the day. Campbell's video took a similar, light-hearted tone to Brodka's original video, featuring candidate and team having fun to upbeat music.
Campus Presence
Winner: Brodka and Campbell
Being the only two candidates to begin setting up spots in the student centre when campaigning began, Brodka and Campbell get a tie in this catergory. Campus was quiet on Sunday, but both were surrounded by their teams and colours, preparing for the week ahead. James Dowdall's team was also putting up posters, but chose not to set up a headquarters in MUSC so as not to take up space in an already congested area.