Students have never been voters in Cambridge, they said, even when other students have run, because they are not interested in improving a town they will live in only for a few years.

"Not a lot of students will go out and vote for the municipal elections," said city councillor Michael Sullivan. "For the 2000 presidential election, though, we'll likely have a very high turnout."

But Snowberg has a different vision of how the election will transpire. He said he expects to follow in the footsteps of other candidates who were initially unknown.

"If you look at for instance other third party candidacies, like Jesse Ventura or Ross Perot, the people that came out for that were new voters," Snowberg said.

Snowberg said that he has not decided whether or not he will pursue a lifelong career in politics.

He said it was unlikely that he would want to remain on the council as a student representative for many years, and that if elected, he hopes that another student would take over when he decides to leave the council.

"I imagine myself in two years perhaps choosing to run [for reelection]. But I don't think I want to represent students when I'm 27 years old. I wouldn't do a good job," Snowberg said. "My interests then may be different from students."