A spate of campaign flyering began at 12:01 a.m. yesterday, as candidates kicked of the 2008 ASSU election cycle. But personal contact and old fashioned one-on-one convincing rather than mass flyering and student group endorsements may decide this year’s ASSU Elections, largely thanks to actions by the Election Committee and the Students of Color Coalition (SOCC).

The Election Committee has taken steps to reduce the importance of advertisements — Fair Campaign Policies now ban bathroom fliers and limit executive slates to 600 paper advertisements, and class slates and senators to 300. Endorsements will also be less significant this year because of the historically influential SOCC’s announcement that it will not be endorsing an executive slate.

Six executive slates will compete in this campaign cycle: Jonny Dorsey ‘09 and Fagan Harris ‘09, Go Go Gobaud Goldgof — David Gobaud ‘08 and Greg Goldgof ‘08, Priyanka Sharma ‘09 and Jack Cackler ‘09, Sagar Doshi ‘09 and Philip Hon ‘10, REVOLUTION — Red Daly ‘09 and Jonathan Rich ‘10, and Barrack Obamma ‘08 — Meghan McCurdy ‘09 and Patrick Maher ‘09.

The new advertising restrictions have forced candidates to consider new, more personal approaches to getting their messages out, according to presidential hopeful Doshi.

“In the past, people have put up posters all over the place, and it’s been very excessive, this year there are not nearly as many posters up,” Doshi said. “People have to look at new creative ways to get their names out there. We are making sure we have contacts all over the campus; we are trying to get more people out on the ground.”

This new, more personal and creative campaign style was shown off by sophomore slate ticket McLeven, which stomped around campus dining halls last night blaring Montell Jordan’s “This is How We Do It” while shouting campaign promises through megaphones instead of posting hundreds of flyers.

“Any sort of success starts with personal interaction, it’s more important than how much money you spend on fliers and T-shirts,” said McLeven candidate Max Hawes ‘11.

“It’s about convincing people on a one-to-one basis,” Doshi added. “To really get to someone’s heart, you need to be able to connect.”

Presidential candidate Sharma was also optimistic about the new policies, saying that it will help take money out of the campaign equation and will level the playing field.

“I would say it’s a good equalizing force, because Stanford is a diverse body, and different people can afford different things,” Sharma said. “For us, we are spending an amount we are comfortable spending. Our focus is our platform, and that is what we are trying to do — reach out from person to person. The restriction works well because the focus is on your issues, not on having 3,000 more fliers than someone else.”

The restrictions could make it easier for students to take control of candidates’ agendas, according to Senate candidate Patrick Cordova ‘09.

“A lot of times the candidates are focusing on getting individuals to tell them what they are interested in,” Cordova said, pointing to the Sharma-Cackler slate’s presence in White Plaza yesterday, where they asked passer-bys what issues they wanted addressed during the campaign. “Hopefully, the populace will tell the candidates [what they think is important], and they will act on what they hear.”

Elections commissioner Ryan Woessner ‘10 is very happy with the way candidates have responded to the new policies.

“I have been very impressed by the candidates’ willingness to follow the policies and many have said that they appreciate being limited to the number of fliers so that they can campaign more effectively than in years past,” Woessner said. “So far, every minor violation has been taken care of by the candidates, so no major issues.”

This year’s elections will also be marked by a lesser focus on endorsements, highlighted by SOCC’s decision not to endorse an executive slate.

“I feel like endorsements should not be the focus of any student election,” said Sharma, whose Sharma-Cackler slate sports endorsements from the Stanford Review, Queer-Straight Alliance, Inter-Fraternity Council and Multiracial Identified Communities.

“We talk to everyone, student group and student alike,” continued Sharma. “What we seek is input on how we can serve them better. I’m hoping this year the ASSU moves past endorsements being the key to success.”

Doshi suggested that endorsements are less important because all of the competing slates are well situated to address certain problems.

“We finally have a group of slates that SOCC feels is pursuing their general goals,” Doshi said. “When SOCC feels that all the slates are comfortable with these ideas, that means that the people running are guaranteed to have [diversity issues] in mind. It should start to level the playing field.”

This year’s endorsement situation should ultimately further the emerging theme of the election — personal interaction.

“The most important thing about this election is not going to be endorsement,” Doshi said, “but the way that you connect with people.”