It's Wednesday night, and Todd E Plants '01 is sitting down to dinner at Eliot House's newly renovated dining hall.

Munching on some popcorn chicken, he chats about the Red Sox, butterscotch pudding and the 1999 elections for the president and vice president of the Undergraduate Council.

The first question lobbed into his court is, on the surface, quite simple--"Todd, are you running for U.C. president?"

He draws back initially, a bit shocked. The election isn't until mid-December, and presidential candidates aren't supposed to formally declare their candidacy until after Thanksgiving.

"I'm pretty sure," he hedges at first.

When pressed, however, he comes clean.

"Yeah, OK, I'm running," he says with a smile.

Although most of the campus remains blissfully unaware of the politics behind the council elections, many candidates have been gearing up for the upcoming election for quite some time. Much like its counterpart on a national scale, Campaign 2000 is alive and well at Harvard College.