In Wasinger's opinion, Wilson is just another campus gov jock waiting for the 2030 presidential race: "Harry Wilson has already started making out Christmas cards for his campaign. He is a smooth operator, very slippery."

Whether right or wrong, Wasinger is in the minority on campus. Wilson remains one of the most popular people on campus.

Steve Kalkanis, a close friend for the last four years, says he doesn't "think anyone on this campus is more principled than Harry."

Kalkanis, former vice-president of the undergraduate student council, said Wilson is discerning and thoughtful, careful to explain his position without offending people, while still remaining true to his beliefs.

"His opinions are never given off the cuff but are well thought out," says Kalkanis.

Still, even his friends and roommates admit Wilson remains a politician, acutely aware of his public perception. "Harry has a cultivated image," Taxin says. "He is very conscious of the image he projects."

Wilson makes a point of shaping his image in the campus media, quick to complain when he believes he's been misrepresented. During the Gulf War, Wilson wrote several letters to The Crimson complaining of his pro-Desert Storm group. More recently, Wilson complained that an article in Fifteen Minutes, a weekly magazine published by The Crimson, portrayed him negatively.

But Wilson's image-consciousness, Varela is quick to add, does not take away from his commitment to his ideals. "There's a tension in him. What appears about him in The Crimson is important to him... [but] it's not as if he's a George Bush Republican. He has heartfelt ideals," Varela says.

THE KEY to understanding how Harry James Wilson came to be "the nice Republican" is his family.

He grew up in a close family, which, his father James Harry Wilson says, he has grown even closer to since he's been away from home. "It's nice, I am glad of that," the elder Wilson says.

Wilson says he draws his strength and his values from his family. His father, a Greek-American, met his mother, Niki, in Greece during World War II. They married and returned to the States.

His father turned down an opportunity to attend Cornell in order to help his family start a meat market business, but once the business was on its feet, it was too late to go to college.

When Harry Wilson enrolled in Harvard, he became the first person in his family to attend college, an opportunity his parents weren't going to waste. His mother worked 50 hours a week as a sewing machine operator and his father came out of retirement to help pay the tuition.

Kalkanis says Wilson's relationship with his parents has defined the young politician's character, ambitions and outlook. "What makes Harry so caring towards others is that he has a strong sense of who he is and where he comes from," says Kalkanis. "He has a sense of priorities. His family comes first."

The elder Wilson, a soft-spoken but earnest man, says that he gives his son general encouragement, but always lets him make his own decisions, never pushing him in one direction or another.