Introducing Madsen-Findley

This morning, at approximately 8:01 a.m. Central Standard Time, Facebook exploded. Not literally, of course, but what I saw when I checked my News Feed this morning was a barrage of profile pictures, cover photos, videos and website links for each of the presidential and vice presidential candidates. Ladies and gentlemen, election season has arrived! And without further ado, your first two candidates:

(Photo courtesy of Madsen-Findley Campaign)

Presidential Candidate: Tom Madsen
Standing: Junior
Major(s): Economics and Political Science
Current NISG Position: Senator, College of Business Administration
Other Campus Involvement:

• President, Student Admissions Ambassadors
• Vice President, Circle K International
• UNI Reserve Officer Training Corps
• Dance Party Commissioner

Facebook Friends: 825

Vice Presidential Candidate: Blake Findley
Standing: Junior
Major(s): Psychology and Spanish
Current NISG Position: Senator, College of Humanities, Arts and Sciences, Deputy Speaker of Senate, Chair of Campus Relations and Chair of Governmental and Legislative Affairs
Other Campus Involvement:

• President, Campbell Hall Senate
• Student Involvement Center Service and Leadership Program
• Peer Leader, Honors Group
• Undergraduate Academic Appeals Board
• Academics Writer, Northern Iowan

Facebook Friends: 1,316

Website: Tom and Blake for UNI (Note: This website is temporary. Apparently they are having difficulties getting their original website up and running. I will keep you posted.)
Facebook: Tom and Blake for UNI Students
Twitter: TaBForUNIStudents
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIQ3l9lxFgU

Initial Thoughts: I'll be posting more in-depth analysis when I've had more time to further research the candidates and their platforms, but right off the bat, this ticket looks like a strong contender. You'd be hard pressed to find a more involved student on this campus than Blake Findley and I would not hesitate to call him the most qualified vice presidential candidate in this election in terms of credentials. Tom Madsen has less experience with NISG than his running mate, but his leadership role with Student Admissions Ambassadors will make him a popular choice, as it did with Kyle Burns last year (though he ended up falling short in the runoff election). I'll give them credit for having a backup website ready to go this morning, but I hope unfortunate hiccups like that won't become a recurring theme with this ticket.