Narrow margin determined entry into run-off
Senior editor
taken
election.
In
dential Heath Mello would
try to explain
If ASUN ’t count write-ins,
Empower gar
nered a of the
vote to
have
annual
endorsement
cartoons, or edi
torial at all, with
the party.
If he would been more com
petitive, voters have seen he was
the man for the
The were
his first
vice , Cecily
Rometo, percent
away from vice
presidential
faced the same in his race.
n
As
between the
(for
candy bars,
bookmarks
They were
to their party
to vote in the
the entire day
ed to keep the
The
Saylors,
coordinators
Scarlet and
songs about
Butterfield.
They ha
catures drawn and placed on balloons
so they would grow with the amount of
air one blew in. The party did end up
having caricatures done, but they were
placed on die bookmarks instead.
Party members even joked about
wearing sandwich boards on election
day - saying things like “The End is
Near - Vote Empower.”
In the end, the long day’s work,
though they tagged it as fun, turned into
a whirl of emotion for Mello.
The fateful day, Mello worked from
7 a.m. to a little after noon, when he had
to leave for his one class, handing out
candy bars, bookmarks and talking
with students on their way to their
classes. He came back strong later, and
worked until he had to go to his ASUN
meeting. He played a little PlayStation
somewhere in between.
He said his experiences that morn
ing were encouraging. Many students
he talked to had voted or said they were
voting for Empower.
At 11:45 a.m., when I arrive at the
north side of the union, Mello is stand
ing in the spot he would come back to
time after time throughout the day.
I take a seat on the concrete bench
next to a Duff supporter standing with a
bullhorn, spouting out Tom-Green-like
phrases to students passing by:
“Keep your hands in your pockets,
your heads down, and you won’t get a
flier,” or “Vote for Duffbecause we did
n’t hand you a little piece of paper.”
Impact presidential candidate John
Conley arrives and starts working the
crowd right away, handing out those lit
tle pieces of paper.
What seems like friendly bantering
occurs between Mello and Conley, and
they walk side by side, at least 5 yards
apart, down the sidewalk giving each
passer-by an Empower and Impact
hand-out.
The image it portrays is one of
friendly competition, but the days after
the election would prove otherwise.
Conley would wrote a letter to the
Daily Nebraskan supporting A-Team
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JUNIOR ADVERTISING MAJOR Dave Saylors presents Cecily Rometo with a bumper sticker as one of the gag gifts
the party presented to each of its candidates at the midnight rally the night before the election. With food, skits
and other presentations, the rally pumped everyone up for the stress of the coming day.
before the next Wednesday’s run-off
election.
But this day, Mello was more upset
about that day’s Daily Nebraskan edito
rial. In fact, much of my day was spent
listening to Empower members defend
themselves against the establishment
party label.
Early in the day, I walk past
Rometo, wearing her Empower T-shirt
and handing out party bookmarks, on
the way back from class.
In the distance I hear Mello,
“Lindsay!” I know what to expect. The
Daily Nebraskan’s annual endorsement
editorial came out that day, and it didn’t
support Empower. In fact, A-Team was
the editorial board’s top pick, and
Impact was the only other party that
received votes.
As Butterfield would tell me later,
Empower at least expected to be in the
top two. Mello arrives. “What hap
pened, Lindsay?” He says the editorial
was harsh and shakes his head disap
pointedly.
Later, when he’s handing out fliers
to students at that same place, he turns
to me and starts explaining why his
ideas may not be implemented if he’s
not elected.
He said the Daily Nebraskan’s
comments in its election day endorse
ment editorial were misleading.
It read: .. presidential candidate
Heath Mello says his goals will be met
whether or not he’s elected. Well, then
we don’t see the point in electing him.”
Mello explains to me that in reality
Soon after the votes were
announced to their supporters gathered
in the bar - about 30 minutes after -
Campaign Manager Sarah
Kippenbrock, the executive candidates
and friend Jake Wobig headed for the
door to walk to P.O. Pears, where
Impact and Duff were having their par
ties.
As they approached the backdoor
me oesi way lor
his ideas to be
carried out is
for him to be
elected. After
all, he said,
who’s going to
listen to him
that seriously if
the students
“ The worst
thing that can
happen is a run-off.
Heath Mello
Empower presidential candidate
or r.w. rears,
before entering the
fence, those at the
front of the line sig
naled to the back to
be quiet.
“Shhhhhhh
...” Kippenbrock
and others at the
front of the group
U1U11 I even
choose him to
be their president?
The sentence in the editorial comes
from a philosophy Mello adopted at a
previous meeting. He used it at debates,
and he focused on letting people know
he would work to get his ideas imple
mented regardless of whether he’s
elected.
We’ll have a quote for the Daily
Nebraskan when we win tonight, Mello
says. But now, he said he wishes he
would’ve taken a stronger stance dur
ing debates and throughout the elec
tion. “I wasn’t competitive enough,” he
said.
***
It’s about 10:15 p.m.
Mello, Rometo and Butterfield as
well as a small contingent of support
ers, gather around the phone outside
Mainstreet Cafe.
Mello is on the phone.
His head falls back up to the sky for
a brief moment. Everyone around
doesn’t know what that means. Could
be defeat.
Then he announces the run-off.
Then he announces it was just by .9
percent that it happened. “Damn,
Damn, Damn!”
Then he tells them about second
vice presidential candidate run-off.
“Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit!”
Rometo yells out happily, but with a
hint of surprise at how close it was.
Butterfield echoes Rometo. Everyone
hugs.
Mello pretty much predicted his
own fate. Earlier in the night, he wasn’t
worried. “The worst thing that can hap
pen is a run-off.”
uuiumg men
arms up as if to halt
everyone. There’s a slight pause, and
they trudge inside and make their ways
through the crowd of blue Impact shirts
and green Duff shirts.
Mello headed straight for Duff can
didate Jason Kidd, they hugged, and
Kidd directed Mello to the back, where
Conley sat visiting with Daily
Nebraskan reporters Samuel
McKewon and Katie Mueting.
But Conley apparently did not want
Mello, who was heading right for him,
in the area yet. He held up his arm to
indicate to Mello to wait in the hallway
outside of the back room. Mello was
signaled in a little later.
Meanwhile, Mello reiterated his
happiness about the situation to me,
saying he was surprised at how things
turned out.
The conversation between Mello
and Conley didn’t last long - a few
words like “good race” thrown around.
That was the idea, Mello said. He
said he “knew what losing was like.” It’s
not fun, he said.
But in the days following the regu
lar election, tensions between Impact
and Empower would rise to the surface.
Mello would talk with Jaron
Luttich, Impact’s campaign adviser,
over coffee on the Friday after the elec
tion.
They talked for 2Vi hours, Mello
said. Luttich told Mello he wasn’t sup
porting Empower.
Luttich also expressed discontent
with Mello and Empower’s decision to
come to PO. Pears the night of the elec
tion. Mello said he told Luttich: “If you
think I went there out of arrogance, I’m
not sitting here anymore.”
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