Not too many students could differentiate between the 12 candidates for Undergraduate Council president in this week's elections.

There were lots of issues out there: Core reform, holiday shuttles, student group funding and accountability.

But who really reads position papers, Web sites or voting records?

Instead, many say the race boiled down to name recognition from grassroots campaigning and prior political experience.

O. Denise Martinez '99 ranked Lamelle D. Rawlins '99 second on her election ballot, purely on the basis of name recognition.

"I've heard of her name. Honestly, that's why I ranked her second," Martinez said. "I don't know if most people care about the issues all that much, but most people have heard of her name."

Rawlins got her name out to the people, knocking on the doors of all first-years and pressing the flesh outside Loker Commons.

And she already had a built-in advantage: serving on the council the past three semesters, after running in a campus-wide race last spring.

"Being the existing vice-president, she definitely had a lot of name recognition [and] a lot of press about her. Because of that, she naturally started considerably ahead of everyone else," said fifth-place finisher Benjamin R. Kaplan '99. "The other candidates were coming from a similar perspective, [so] we probably took votes away from each other."

She also picked up endorsements from myriad progressive student organizations. And at Harvard, where 85 percent of students vote Democratic in national elections, that puts her on the side of popular opinion.

Rawlins was backed by the Black Students Association (BSA), the Minority Students Association (MSA), the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transsexual Students Association (BGLTSA) and Girl's Spot, among others.

She said campus organizations played a key role in her victory. BSA President Derrick N. Ashong '97 agreed: "We supported Lamelle Rawlins because we felt that she would best serve the interests of the BSA on the council."

"I'm sure there were various reasons why students voted for her," he said. "However, I hope that our endorsement played a role."

But what about Michael A. O'Mary '99, who was Rawlins's running-mate?

His name, too, was plastered all over campus. But he finished third in a field of five candidates, garnering a mere 660 votes to her 1,146.

The experience factor made the difference, many say, as Rawlins has pushed various issues while O'Mary is a first-term councillor with a less extensive track record.