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Students Air Grievances Behind Closed Doors
By John Frank
Assistant University Editor
Members of student government said
they resolved issues of miscommunicadon
with Speaker of Congress Tony Larson
Tuesday night after a private meeting in
Student Body Resident Jen Daum’s office.
Daum said after the meeting that she
was pleased that steps against Larson, like
asking him to resign, were not necessary.
“It wasn’t necessary because he
Poised for the Primaries
I 'h.
jppipi’ .*
One of three candidates (left to right) N.C. Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles or state Rep. Dan Blue is likely
to secure the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate. Some pundits say Bowles' party support and fund-raising ability give him the early edge in the race.
Blue, Bowles, Marshall Vie for Democratic Bid
By Michael McKnight
Staff Writer
A former White House Chief of Staff, a
long-time state legislator and the first woman
to win a statewide executive office in North
Carolina are among the leading contenders
for the Democratic nomination in this year’s
U.S. Senate race.
According to recent poll data, former
White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles
has an edge on both N.C. Rep. Dan Blue, D-
Wake, and N.C. Secretary of State Elaine
Marshall in terms of name recognition. But all
three are nearly tied in the number of people
IS
DTH FILE PHOTO
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Dole (left) has distanced herself
from the rest of the field in her bid for the Republican nomination.
Politicians are ambitious not to make important decisions but to say important things.
Richard Crossman
j
answered concerns adequately," she
said. “It was extremely productive."
Larson said he admitted his mistakes
and took responsibility for his actions at
the meeting. “I apologized and wel
comed feedback on how to improve."
The meeting was originally to be held
in the conference room in Suite C of the
Student Union but was moved to Daum’s
office so it could remain confidential.
Student Body Vice President Aaron
Hiller said the discussion centered on
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DTH FILE PHOTO
who hold favorable opinions of them.
A poll conducted in early March by The
Institute of Politics and Public Affairs at Elon
University -one of the few polls conducted
about the race thus far - found that 48 percent
of those surveyed recognized Bowles’ name,
while Blue had a 28.8 percent recognition rate
and 24.4 percent recognized Marshall.
The survey found the race was even clos
er in terms of the number of people who held
favorable opinions of the candidates. Bowles
again narrowly led in this category with 14
percent of those surveyed responding that
they had a favorable opinion of him. Marshall
came in second with 10 percent, followed by
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miscommunica
tion between stu
dent leaders.
“You can’t qual
ify Tony’s zeal for
student govern
ment and his dedi
cation to Student
Congress,” he said.
“However, in his
excitement to do
the job as well as he
g
Elections 2002
The Senate Race
DTH/JOSHUA GREER
The Democrats
The Republicans
Dole Likely to Gain Republican
Nomination for U.S. Senate Seat
By Michael McKnight
Staff Writer
As the race to determine who will represent the
Democratic Party in November’s U.S. Senate elec
tion heats up, many who have been closely fol
lowing this year’s primaries say the Republican
candidate already has been picked.
Pundits, pollsters and party insiders appear to be
in unanimous agreement that former American Red
Cross President and U.S. Secretary of Labor
Elizabeth Dole has a commanding lead over the
competition for the Republican party nomination.
A poll conducted in early March by the Elon
Blown Away
Russ Adams leads UNC to a
10-2 win against the Rams.
See Page 7
Volume 110, Issue 37
can, he has come across as overzealous.”
Hiller and Daum said Larson’s enthu
siasm carried over into his official duties
when he sent an e-mail to a group of stu
dent leaders encouraging graduate stu
dents to run for Congress.
Daum said the e-mail, which was sent
about a month ago, was perceived as
threatening because Larson suggested
that if graduate students weren’t repre
sented in Congress that they would have
to find funding elsewhere.
SBP Jen Daum
■ W
Blue with 7.7 percent.
But all three Democrats will have more time
to make a name for themselves than originally
anticipated due to the postponement of the N.C.
primaries, originally scheduled for May 7. The
primaries have been put on hold while the N.C.
Supreme Court decides the legality of state dis
trict lines drawn by the legislature last fall.
UNC political science Professor Thad Beyle
said it is too early to tell what effect the post
ponement of the primary election will have on
the race. Beyle said the delay likely will be most
cosdy for Bowles, who is the only candidate to
use television ads so far in the election season.
“That can get expensive,” he said. “A lot of
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Larson said he regretted the tone of
the e-mail and plans to send another
soon that will clear up any confusion.
Hiller also questioned Larson about
an “overly aggressive” approval process
of Student Advisory Committee to the
Chancellor appointees. “(The nominees)
had already been grilled extensively, so
we questioned his methods and whether
it was efficient to spend three hours rein-
See MEETING, Page 5
people have said Dan Blue and Elaine Marshall
will come out better because they’re doing most
of their work on the ground like going out and
shaking hands and meeting people.”
Erskine Bowles
But Beyle said Bowles still leads the
Democrats in fund raising, which is why most
people view him as the front runner for the
Democratic nomination.
So far in the 2002 election cycle, Bowles
has raised more that $3.1 million for his cam
paign - $2.6 million more than any other
See DEMOCRATS, Page 5
University Institute for Politics and Public Affairs
found Dole had 94 percent name recognition. Her
closest Republican competitor, Lexington attorney
Jim Snyder, had only 18 percent name recognition.
The poll also found 52 percent of North
Carolinians surveyed held a favorable opinion of
Dole. No other Republican candidate received a
favorability rating of higher than 3 percent.
Sharon Spray, director of the Elon poll, said the
apparent split among the three top Democratic can
didates could benefit Dole, who, according to the
poll, holds a wide lead in both name recognition
See REPUBLICANS, Page 5
Weather
Today: Partly Cloudy; H 72, L 55
Thursday: A.M. Rain; H 75, L 42
Friday: Mostly Cloudy; H 71, L 42
Low Vote
Count Stops
Fee Increase
Unofficial results indicate
that as few as one Congress
seat might remain vacant
after the special election.
By Jessica Sleep
Staff Writer
Students voted to increase student
activity fees in Tuesday’s special elec
tion, but provisions in the Student Code
will prevent the referendum from pass
ing, said Speaker of Student Congress,
Tony Larson.
Students voted 241 to 176 to raise the
student activity fee $16.50 for all stu
dents.
But Larson said
Article 6, Section
503 of the Student
Code requires that
at least 10 percent
of the student
body must vote to
approve any
increase in student
fees.
“I am fairly cer
tain that it will not
pass,” he said.
Larson said he
was disappointed with the number of
students who voted in Tuesday’s elec
tion. “I’m disappointed that turnout was
so low, but traditionally elections that
are not held during the main election
for student body president do not gen
erate a large turnout,” he said.
But Larson said he was pleased that the
majority of students who voted supported
the referendum. “I’m glad to say that the
majority of students who voted tonight
supported the idea of raising student fees.”
Student Congress will now re-evalu
ate whether to continue supporting the
fee increase in the fall, Larson said. “We
will have to strategize about how we’re
going to get 10 percent of the student
body to vote.”
Tuesday’s election also was held to
fill 13 empty seats that were left in
Student Congress after the Feb. 12 gen
eral student body elections.
Board of Elections Chairwoman
Emily Margolis said seven students ran
for the 13 available seats.
Margolis said that as of Tuesday
night, she had contacted all seven can
didates, and four of them accepted their
posts. She said it was probable that the
other three would accept.
Margolis said there were five write-in
candidates who her office had contacted
but who had yet to accept their seats.
Only District 12, Hinton James and
Morrison residence halls, did not
receive any votes in the election,
Margolis said. The election results indi
cate that as many as nine and as few as
one seat could remain vacant.
Margolis said there would not be
enough time this semester to hold
another special election.
But Larson said that even though
only one seat could remain empty, the
Student Code requires Student Body
President Jen Daum to order another
special election within 30 calendar days
of the beginning of the fall semester.
Margolis said the election ran
smoothly, despite early technical diffi
culties, which resulted in the wrong dis
tricts appearing on the ballot. “The old
district designations were there tem
porarily, but we fixed it as soon as we
found out about it."
But Margolis said she did not think
the glitches affected many students.
“It did affect a few people, but they
called us, and we fixed the problem,”
she said. Margolis estimated die correct
districts were on the ballot by 9:30 a.m.
Larson said he was pleased that most
of the Congress seats were filled. “It’s
been a long time since Congress has
been as active as it has been recendy.”
The University Editor can be reached
at udesk@unc.edu.
DTH FILE PHOTO
StMtentFM,
Increase
Referendum
Yes 241
votes, 57.8 %
No 176
votes, 42.2 %