Although “Let the #uscgames begin!” flashed on screen before opening remarks at Tuesday’s VP debate, any spectacle-starved voter would have been disappointed. The usual Twitter feed projection floating above candidates’ heads was put to rest while candidates for the slate-based USC positions of VP External and VP Internal debated key portfolio issues. Aside from moderator Andrew Shaw’s virtually celebrated #sass, a few tense questions from audience members, and one uncomfortable reference to “pulling out or staying in,” the event left sensationalism to the Super Bowl. Continue reading
Inside and Out: Thoughts on the USC VP Debates
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Shortly before 8 pm yesterday, an anonymous person or group hacked the USC Elections site. Voters were redirected to a page that welcomed them to the “Justin Bieber Hairstyle vote 2012” and informed them that “a vote for Bieber is a vote for world peace.” As of now, the motivations behind the defacement of the site are unknown. Still, the act raises an important question: was it just an example of wanton e-vandalism perpetrated by ne’er-do-wells or something more – something political? In the often superficial and super-sensational world of USC presidential elections, a vote for the Biebs’ luscious locks may not be so different than a vote for any of the candidates. 
In the thousands of years we’ve progressed as a species, we’ve finally agreed on how important it is to associate one’s self with an amiable colour scheme and develop one’s personal ‘brand.’ Excuse me while I die a little inside.
Stage presence spoke louder than words at yesterday’s presidential debate in Huron’s Great Hall. This was the debate we’d all been waiting for. As current USC members snickered amongst each other in the front row, campaign team members of all presidential stripes and a handful of interested voters sat forward in their seats. Spectators quickly transcended their roles as politically involved students to become politically motivated bloodhounds, delighting in the candidates’ every falter. 
