Cell Organelle Campaign
You and your team are going to run a campaign for the 2011 Organelle Elections.
Your candidate has been nominated for the post of Most Important Organelle. In
order to win, you will have to successfully convince your voters that without your
candidate, they would be in dire straits, unable to survive. In fact, if your candidate
were gone, the whole ecosystem would collapse! Your voters are students in one of
the other AP biology classes (not your own classmates). These voters represent the plant, animal, and
bacterial cells on our planet, so you need to tailor your campaign components to reach each of them. Be
sure to include relevant arguments for each of these types of voters on all assignments. Do not skip on
detail because they will know it! They are informed and educated, and they expect a quality campaign.
How will you organize your campaign?
1) Campaign Poster and Pamphlet (two members): You are responsible for developing a campaign
poster and pamphlet (and other propaganda if desired). You are required to hang at least one poster
championing the greatness of your candidate (organelle). You must include the candidate’s name, a
picture, and a brief, catchy slogan that can attract voters and paints a clear picture of why your candidate
is the most important. This should be very visual, think of the iconic Obama Hope poster. The poster
must be hung by the time you leave for home on Monday, October 17, and you need to make sure you
receive approval from Mrs. Anderson’s office.
Campaign Pamphlet: You are also responsible for creating a campaign pamphlet that describes how
totally awesome your candidate is. The following items should be included:
 A catchy graphic on front
 Structural details of candidate (How does your candidate visually appeal to your voters?)
 Function of candidate (What does your candidate do for your voters?)
 Description of why your candidate is crucial to the survival of your community, ecosystem, even
the planet! (Maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but hey, that’s how a political campaign is run!)
 References in MLA formatting on the back
Be sure to relate the structure of your candidate to his/her function. Be sure to make the connection for
your voters as to why your candidate is so important. Be creative with this. Want to use quotes from
doctors or other experts? Great! Remember that pictures can tell 1000 words. The pamphlet is due by
Tuesday, October, 18.
2) Smear Campaign (two members): You are responsible for running a smear campaign against each of
the other five candidates (organelles). You should address what diseases are associated with mutations
and malfunctions of those candidates. How can/do they hurt your voters? Create at least one piece of
literature against each candidate (poster, pamphlet, fact sheet, T-shirt, radio ad, etc). You do not have to
use the same type of literature for each candidate, you can use as many different types as you want. The
five pieces of literature are due by Tuesday, October 18 and displayed either in the classroom, hallway,
or showcased during your campaign speech. You must also submit your sources (in MLA format) on a
separate sheet of paper (not counted as one of your five pieces of literature).
3) Campaign Speech (one member): Your are responsible for delivering a campaign speech, no longer
than five minutes. Your speech should include the following:
 The importance of your candidate to your voters
 Deflect the smear campaigns run against you

A description of how your candidate, once elected, will work in cooperation with all of the other
organelles to create the best community/ecosystem/planet possible
This speech will be videotaped after school on Thursday, October 20, and then shown to your voters
(the other AP Biology class) during class on Friday, October 21. You must provide a transcript of your
speech, complete with references in MLA formatting, when you are videotaped.
Election Day: Friday, October 21.
After watching the campaign speeches, each voter will receive a ballot with the candidates listed. The number
of votes your candidate receives will factor into your final grade (as bonus points).
Final Words
Beyond what is required on the previous page, you can be as creative as is ethically correct to win this
campaign. No threatening or bribing your voters or the other candidates, but extra posters, T-shirts, buttons,
stickers, pencils, face paint, etc are all acceptable. I will make eight copies of the pamphlets to be distributed to
each table of voters on Election Day. However, these copies will be in black and white. If you want colored
copies, you should bring them in yourself. Good Luck! And may the best candidate win!
List of Candidates:
 Nucleus
 Ribosome
 Endomembrane system (golgi, smooth er and rough er)
 Cytoskeleton (microfilaments, microtubules, intermediate filaments)
 Mitochondrion
 Chloroplast
 Vesicles (vacuole and lysosome)
You must let me know who on your team is responsible for which part by Tuesday, October 11.