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Students at North Carolina State University don't know for sure the real name of the man they elected student body president. But that didn't stop them from electing "The Pirate Captain," who won a runoff victory last night.
The rules of student government at NC State don't require candidates to register with their names, and the candidacy of The Pirate Captain took off in recent weeks. His victory followed a first vote, in which he won 44 percent -- more than any other candidate, but less than the 51 percent required to avoid a runoff. He won 58 percent of the vote in the runoff, according to an editor at Technician, the student paper at the university.
The Pirate Captain dresses in pirate regalia, including an eye patch, and gives interviews to the student press in a pirate dialect (or what he imagines to be one).
Unlike pirates of the past, this one has a Web site, complete with a platform ("The Plank"), photographs of his campaign team ("The Scurvy Crew") and a commercial.
Among the Pirate Captain's campaign promises (with his spelling and phrasing intact):
- Expand The Cargo Lines -- Avast, mateys! Ye metal landlubber carriers -- as ye schooled pansies know as 'busses' -- 'ought be hauling thar peopled cargo to and fro from ACC bouts at the yonder RBC center. This bae helpin' with congestion at them parking docks an get more of ye landlubbers at the soiree.
- Create a Crew of all 5 Colleges in Raleigh -- Listen up, yae Scurvy dogs! We pirates need to work together with the other schools an thar cap'ns and crew in this fine port of Raleigh. The more people in the same boat, the further the saber will cut into the coin purse when comes time to deal with the dastardly Mayor and his rich council of merchants. More plunder! Yo-Ho!
- Let Our War Cries Be Heard! -- Time's are in needs o'change, m'lads! How are wae to support our men on the field o' the pigskin when thar bae hardly any o' us able to get into tha place?! The Pirate Captain bae strongly in favor to get more seats at thar field for the college crew!
- Literacy bae important -- Yarr, how'd ye landlubbers favor a new scholarship about me favorite subject? A written competition, the best story about us pirates wins, but where would we get the booty? A themed soiree for all ye landlubbers.
