Politics on this campus can best be described as a mix of high school elections and county Board of Supervisors meetings?just not quite like the real thing. But it seems that this year is going to be quite different. The ongoing election saga has had all the drama of last year?s electoral disaster in Florida, just neatly packaged up for campus consumption. The main cause of this drama? Joe Devlin. He may have come onto the scene late, but he certainly came with a big bang.

First, he stole Liz Markey from Art Pimentel?s Vision slate. Originally she was on the Vision slate as their Director of Business candidate. And then she jumped ship to join Devlin as his Vice President of Finance. Her reasoning was that she disagreed with the politics of the Vision slate. Pimentel himself admitted that Markey was an asset to the slate. Score: Devlin 1, Opponents 0.

But Devlin wasn?t done just yet; he soon secured David Sommers as his candidate for Vice President of University Affairs. Sommers had been working as an advisor (quasi campaign manager) to the Support US slate. There was no doubt that Devlin was attracted to Sommers? connections with University Administration?and his vast knowledge of the inner workings of politics on this campus. Sommers? departure is certainly a huge loss for Support US, and it wasn?t exactly amicable either. (Relations between Sommers and the Support US team remain somewhat soured). Let?s just hope that Sommers and representatives of Support US can work together without bad blood if they are elected. Score: Devlin 2, Opponents 0.

?Speaking of blood, the CSUS Theatre Department?s production of “Dracula” will be opening on May 3. It?s certain to be a great show, so be sure to go out and support our Theatre Department. And kudos to whomever is in charge of their marketing. Those yellow and black signs?strikingly similar to those from the Support US slate?certainly stand out. Looks like Support US gets its paint from the same place as the Theatre Department.

?Crystal Chase, the energetic candidate for Arts & Letters under the Students First! slate, was spotted on campus over the weekend putting up signs in a UC Davis sweatshirt. At first I thought she was a traitor, but then I realized that it made sense. Why would she want to get a Sac State sweatshirt dirty?

?Monday marked the distribution of the official 2001 ASI Elections Voter Pamphlet to all students interested. All five students who took the time to pick one up were sure to notice this gem coming from the candidate statement of Tom Hughes who is running for Vice President of Finance. “Making (KSSU) a strong FM station, ?Saved by the Bell? status.” Awesome, next we?ll see Zach and Screech running things up in ASI. But I guess that is better than some of the candidates at Monday?s round table forum who were quoted as saying, “We need to take control of The Hornet.”

Very funny, I wish them the best of luck in their efforts.

In an election season as twisted and crazy as this, nothing is surprising anymore.

Brendan D. Wonnacott is a Government & History major and is the opinion editor of The State Hornet. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].