After hearing he had lost to his opponent Mike McGee by a 20-point margin, Bill Pulte and members of his campaign staff stepped outside the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. A few minutes later, Pulte spotted a helicopter in the evening sky.
“I guess I can go back to running my helicopter business,” said the Medill junior and founder and chief operating officer of Great Lake Helicopters, Inc.
Pulte garnered exactly 40 percent of the vote in the runoff election for Associated Student Government president, while Mike McGee won with 60 percent. Pulte received 48.6 percent of the vote in Wednesday’s election, and McGee received 47.9 percent. Pulte’s running mate Patrick Dawson found the difference staggering.
“Clearly I’m disappointed,” the Weinberg junior said. “I am interested in the fact that there was such a huge drop-off in such a short time.”
Little reaction to the result could heard from outside Pulte’s room in Pike – when they exited the room, campaign staffers were somber. Pulte said he was “saddened” that he will not have the opportunity to lead ASG.
“I did indeed feel like I was the best candidate for the job,” Pulte said. “I was looking forward to helping the student body. I hope Mike and Tommy can do things that will help the daily lives of students.”
Pulte wasn’t disappointed in his campaign efforts.
“It was a well-fought race,” Pulte said. “We gave it the best we had. We were able to generate record-breaking numbers.
The Pulte campaign faced another challenge Thursday when an e-mail sent from Academic Director-elect Muhammad Safdari to supporters was circulated to listservs throughout campus. Outgoing ASG President Neal Sales-Griffin said Pulte kept his composure despite the situtation.
“I thought he did a good job keeping his head high,” the SESP senior said.As a result, he said, both campaigns “took the high road” and “definitely ran a tighter ship.”
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