It’s not often a list from the Associated Students of the University of Arizona generates as much anticipation as the one released at noon Tuesday, but this year the list of official candidates for ASUA office was a special case.

David Martinez III, ASUA elections commissioner, said he and his staff were working feverishly to analyze application packets and eliminate those that did not meet standards. Campaigning officially starts Monday.

The three official candidates for ASUA president are Brad Wulff, a marketing junior, Tommy Bruce, a business economics sophomore and Anthony Stuart, a junior majoring in Spanish.

Wulff said he was anxious when waiting for the announcement, but his anxiousness has now been overcome by excitement.

“”Monday is now taking forever to get here, now that I know I’m officially on it,”” Wulff said. Candidates can begin campaigning Monday.

Martinez said more people expressed interest in running for office by picking up application packets this year than last, but the amounts of completed, turned-in applications are comparable.

“”We’re bracing for a very active campaign season,”” Martinez said.

Bruce said this election is important to the future of ASUA after a “”rough year”” during Cade Bernsen’s presidency and a “”terrific”” year with President Erin Hertzog.

“”We need to transition smoothly to really keep us on our feet,”” Bruce said. “”We’re back on it. We can’t get knocked off again.””

While this year’s election season gets its official kickoff Monday, Stuart said he has been working on developing his campaign for five months.

His campaign materials have been finished for more than two months, though they could not be approved until the official candidate list was announced, he said.

Both Bruce and Wulff said they are working on several different aspects of their campaigns, possibly including Web sites, but Stuart said he was definitely not going to be using the Internet to reach student voters.

“”We’re going to try to be a little more creative than that,”” Stuart said.

All three candidates said they had extensive networks of close friends and campaign staffers to help them get elected.

Martinez said the election commission will have its own non-endorsing, get-out-the-vote campaign, hosting forums and possibly having polling stations at other campus locations.

Martinez said last year had a voter turnout of 4,000, which he hopes to increase.

“”It’s not enough, especially on a campus of 37,000,”” Martinez said.

Bruce said his family wasn’t surprised he decided to run for ASUA president. He said he had a seventh-grade teacher who told him he would one day run for the office, long before he knew what ASUA was.

Stuart said his friends and family had much the same reaction.

“”A lot of people said it was just connecting the dots,”” Stuart said.

Candidates for executive vice president are Jessica Anderson, an undeclared sophomore, and Michael Slugocki, a political science junior.

Candidates for administrative vice president are Amy Adamcin, a pre-business sophomore, Jen Dang, a psychology senior and Alaina Glatting, a physiology senior.

There are 16 candidates running for the 10 seats in the ASUA Senate.

All ASUA candidates will begin campaigning Monday for three weeks before the primary, then an additional week after that before the general election.

“”I can’t wait to get on the (UA) Mall and shake hands,”” Wulff said.