After weeks of speculation, a University of Wisconsin
student and former candidate decided not to run for the Dane County Board of
Supervisors in 2008.

UW junior David Lapidus had been considering the option for
a few weeks, but has decided against running after weighing personal factors.
He ran for the board in 2006 but was beat out by Ashok Kumar, who has since
been the representative for District 5, which includes the UW campus.

Lapidus said his main reasons not to run included the
possibility of affecting his preferred summer internship — which could be
outside of Madison — schoolwork, extracurricular activities and social life,
and also the possibility of serving in the military after his graduation, which
would overlap his duties on the board.

"Even in the face of all those costs, it was really a 50-50
decision because I have a lot of passion for wanting to run," Lapidus said.
"These reasons were too much, I had to give in to the logic instead of the
passion."

Lapidus is a former Student Services Finance Committee
member and part of the Associated Students of Madison council nominations
board.

Kumar said he thought Lapidus would run and said he thinks
of him as honest but "too fiscally conservative for the district."

"I'd like David Lapidus to reconsider because he brings a
lot to the political discourse on anything he gets involved in," Kumar said.
"He's brilliant and has a lot of integrity, but at the same time I don't think
his politics are right for the district."

Kumar said the district has been historically progressive,
and Lapidus would have a hard time winning the 2008 election.

Lapidus said he will continue to be involved in campus
politics and would like to get involved in policy making at the city and county
level.

"[I will be doing] mostly
community organizing, continuing my work with Vets for Vets, People Opposing
Prejudice, and would like to get a good Middle East speaker on campus," Lapidus
said.