What was intended to be a genuine discussion of political views quickly degenerated into a series of "assassinations," verbal rampages, attempts to get dates and random filibuster-style campaign strategies.

In what could at times be considered a theatrical farce rather than a political debate, 10 tickets vying for Notre Dame student body president and vice president met Sunday to present and debate their platforms to the student body.

The mood of the debate was set early on, as the first ticket to present itself, Andrew Sciallis and Daniel Saracino (or as they perfer to be called, Squirrel and D-nuts), presented their "Keep your fingers crossed" campaign, which includes the destruction of Keenan-Stanford Hall to build an underage speakeasy. The two yielded their remaining time to Ryan Clemency of the Smith-Clemency ticket (Greg Smith, the presidential nominee of the ticket, was not actually present at the debate), which Clemency promptly filled by reading passages from "Sacred Mountains of the World."

The other candidates were not to be outdone.

Chris Costigan, who was accompanied by a body guard, "purely for precautionary reasons" stood with a blank stare as his running mate, Pat McCormick, was "assassinated" by an assailant in a blue ski mask who fired a cap gun at McCormick. The assailant screamed, "Vote Squirrel, he's in pursuit of liberty!" and quickly ran out of the room. McCormick was then carried off stage by his bodyguard.

He was the first candidate to leave the debate without returning. He would not be the last.

The extremely lively crowd actually counted down the last 15 seconds of Clemency's time, which was spent reading from a golf book, "Getting Up and Down: How to Save Strokes from 40 Yards and In."

Presidental candidate Mathew Flatow decided to use his three minutes to verbally assault the current student government, The Observer, Scholastic Magazine and basically anyone and everyone else he could.

Visibly upset over being labeled a "joke ticket," Flatow screamed, "Student government is a sham! It's all about respect and I've gotten no respect!" He then threw the microphone on the floor and charge out of the room.

Adam Dinnell, Flatow's running mate, then closed the rest of the team's time, saying, "I have nothing more to say that is either relevant or true."

"Darth" Todd Warapius and "Darth" George Coppinger, were one of the more well behaved tickets of the debate. Their platform, however, remained rather sci-fi.

"Darth" Todd continued to advocate his plans of complete domination and forced order.

"Any club can exist," "Darth" Todd said of diversity on campus, "as long as they pledge allegiance to us." The "Darths" also advocated banning all J. Crew and Abercrombie and Fitch clothing from campus in an attempt to "spur individual development."

Not all the candidates took the debate so lightheartedly though.

Joe Shepard and Jim Focht used their time to express their vision of a new, reformed student government.

"I was motivated to run by frustration," said Shepherd. "Student government is not rocket science. The problem is not recognizing things that could be done better, it's actually getting them done."

Shepherd and Focht utilized the majority of their time in advocating their primary campaign promise of making student government more relevant to students,"We are very serious about making (teacher course evaluations) available and getting more social space," Shepherd said. "We've been told that if we work, we can do this."

John Osborn and Mark Donahey also focused on making student government more relevant to everyday students.

"Look, we're just two guys from campus," said Osborn. "We might be lousy politicians, but we think there are some things on this campus that could be changed."

The two candidates reiterated their ideas of a homecoming weekend, off-campus service shuttle and more student involvement in University governance.

"Student governments of past have been completely self serving, existing entirely in their own world," said Osborn. "It's time to bring it back to the students."

Despite interruptions from Sciallis (Squirrel), who stripped down to red and white pajamas in order to ask vice presidential candidate Brooke Norton on a Valentine's Day date, and Costigan, who began walking around stage with a tray of cookies, Brian O'Donoghue and his running mate Norton kept their poise. They presented their prosposals for the Rectors' Endowment Fund and a greater concentration on women's and diversity issues.

"Everyone is saying that student government does nothing for our daily lives," O'Donoghue said referring to his Rectors' Endowment Fund, "well, here is something student government could do to make your lives a little easier."

Responding to why he was running, O'Donoghue said, "We love the students of this University, and we want to make their lives a little easier. Notre Dame is not about buildings, land and money, it's about the students."

Hunt Hanover and John Micek, who were also forced to ignore the antics of other candidates during their time, presented their vision of a more accessible student government.

"Student government shouldn't be confined to the second floor of LaFortune," said Hanover. "We need to take it out to the students." Micek continued this sentiment, "Hunt and I believe that we can be day-to-day leaders. We believe that everything we do can be accomplished by the time we hand over our administration next year."

The question and answer period of the debate did not go much smoother. Clemency responded to his question by reciting lyrics to pop star Britney Spears' "Baby, One More Time." Sciallis, who instead of answering his question, used his time to solicit a date from Norton, and then ran out of the room after receiving a hug from her. (He did not return.) Costigan, after quickly answering his question on how he would get the student body more involved in campus governance, yielded the rest of his time to Clemency, who proceeded to read from "War and Peace" for the remainder of Costigan's time.

"It was a difficult environment," said Shepherd after the debate. "There were a lot of issues I would have loved to debate with some of the candidates."

Shepherd said that because of the rowdy candidates and crowd he felt he did not get that opportunity, "People are just going to vote for who The Observer or Scholastic tells them to, and because of what went on today, we didn't get a chance to change that," he said.

Other candidates didn't take so much offense.

"They were hilarious," O'Donoghue said of the less-than-serious candidates. "Everyone has the right to run, it brought a little life to the debate."

And despite the constant distractions, he said the debate was a success. "I think we got our word out," O'Donoghue said. "A lot of people heard what we had to say, and I think we changed some people's minds."

Micek echoed O'Donoghue's enthusiam.

"It shows we can talk off the cuff," he said of the debate. "Everything we said was true to our platform and beliefs."

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