It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness. It was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair – in short, it was time for the Arizona Daily Wildcat’s annual student government endorsements.

Over the past two weeks, the members of the Daily Wildcat’s opinions board scrutinized the platforms and policies of this year’s Associated Students of the University of Arizona candidates. Over the weekend, we sat down to interview each one in person. The endorsements published on today’s opinions pages are the result of considerable effort and debate on the part of our opinions board, and we hope they will help guide your decisions as a voter.

Our endorsement process is straightforward and objective. Senate candidates met with the opinions board for 15 minutes each, vice-presidential candidates for a half-hour, and this year’s presidential candidate for a full hour. During that time, candidates presented their policy platforms and explained their future visions for ASUA, and members of the opinions board asked specific questions of each candidate.

In making our endorsements, we looked for substance over flair, innovation over tradition and feasibility over impressiveness. We then came to a consensus on our favorite candidates – and we’re proud to say that all six we’ve chosen to endorse exceeded our essential criteria.

Unfortunately, many of them did not.

Without exception, the candidates we interviewed were either accomplished and capable or mediocre and inept. This perverse and often baffling phenomenon is equal parts hopeful and troubling for the future of student government at the UA.

Candidates from the former category were remarkably impressive. Their platforms were pragmatic, thoroughly researched and presented with enthusiasm.

Candidates from the latter were magnificently incompetent. Their proposals were trite, impossible or well outside the scope and function of student government. Sadly, they were in the majority, and many of them will be elected to office this week.

Yet, there’s hope to be found in this bizarre dichotomy: Those candidates we’ve chosen to endorse are indicators of a new era of professionalism and competence in ASUA. It’s just too bad that there were so few of them.

This year’s elections may not have the popular draw of a competitive presidential election, but they are as important as ever. It’s a pity that there are too few excellent candidates, and a pity that there are so many mediocre ones. But we’re confident that the exceptional candidates we’ve chosen to endorse have the capacity to overcome their deadweight peers and enliven our student government. We hope they will choose to do so.