With the elimination of slate logos and names, the AssociatedStudents, Inc. election candidates have found a way to put the funback into campaigning. What can be more fun than bright candycolors to catch the eyes of the potential voter?

But more importantly, what do these colors really say about theslates? Last year, it was easy to tell that one slate was all about”Unity” while the other was all about a”Vision.” Whoever ended up being “united”has yet to be determined, but nevertheless, this name (along withits logo) allowed Peter Ucovich, Julio Velázquez and JoshWood to print numerous shirts and buttons promoting their uniteddedication to get elected, which they did.

However, the colors bring a new aspect to the campaign season.I’d like to think of it in relation to the minimalistmovement of the 1960’s, where objects where stripped downfrom abstraction: We see a name, a face, and a color in all of thethree major slates.

The first team to put their boards up was the slate headed bythe Brothers Wood (presidential candidate Joshua and VP of financecandidate Luke). Their boards feature white-printed names on a redbackground, along with a photo of the candidate.

Josh Wood says that the color red means”stop”&-as in “stop raising studentfees.” Although a bit too jarring for my eye, I like what thered says to me whenever I walk by. It reminds me of the SalvationArmy or the “first aid” symbol, and after theseelections our campus just might need a little help fromboth.Presidential candidate Brandon “BK” Kline’sslate was the first one to counteract the red boards with its ownyellow signs.

“Yellow implies a bright future for Sac State,”Kline said, adding that the blue used to print the names stands forleadership and promise.

Kline said he thought really hard about the colors, and itshows. The yellow is a perfect counter for red, and the color is alittle softer on the eye. However, in a certain light they looklike Los Angeles Lakers colors, which make me&-the Kings fan Iam&-look away in hatred.

The third slate to erect its boards was JulioVelázquez’s slate. Velázquez said he wanted torun on his own, but was overwhelmed by the number of candidates whowanted to run with him. Velázquez thought that mixing thered from the Wood slate and the yellow from the Kline slate wouldbe a statement in itself.

“I want to run my campaign honestly and be as professionalas possible,” Velázquez said.

I don’t know how professional one can look when their faceis smacked on a big bright orange board, but nevertheless,it’s a fun color. My favorite Polo sweater is orange, and Ialways get compliments whenever I wear it.

When it comes down to it, though, I would not advise thatstudents vote on a color. But they are hard to ignore when walkingthrough the library quad, and these colors shining bright in oureyes do a good job representing ASI’s acid trip of a year.Maybe next year ASI can tweak the election code even more to givevoters a break; I can see the legislation now: “All campaignadvertisements should not contain color, with the exception of thecolor clear.”