The Canine Candidate

He wasn’t your ordinary ASUI senatorial candidate: he had four legs, a wet nose, and was able to catch Frisbees flawlessly in his mouth. He had no political affiliations or living group loyalties, but was extremely affectionate to strangers in public.

His name was Dook and his master and campaign financial director, Bill Malan, organized a write-in campaign for the three year-old Springer Spaniel and Lab mix. Their slogan was “Write in DOOK… because every dog has his day.”

Although Dook didn’t win, he attracted 812 of the 2319 votes, and some students said they participated just to cast ballots for Dook. Out of the 13 candidates for the senate, the Dook came in seventh. There were only six open senate seats.

Learn more about Dook the canine senator that almost was in the 1983 Gem of the Mountains Digital Yearbook.