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1[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tracy_Flick_for_President_1134.jpg]]
2[[caption-width-right:300:Pick Flick!]]
3
4->''"You can't interfere with destiny, that's why it's destiny. And if you try to interfere, the same thing's just going to happen anyway, and you'll just suffer."''
5-->-- '''Tracy Flick'''
6
7''Election'' is a 1999 American satirical {{teen|Drama}} {{dramedy}} film [[TheFilmOfTheBook adapted from]] Creator/TomPerrotta's 1998 novel of the same name, directed and co-written by Creator/AlexanderPayne and starring Creator/MatthewBroderick, Creator/ReeseWitherspoon, Creator/ChrisKlein, and Jessica Campbell.
8
9In suburban Omaha, overachieving high school senior Tracy Flick (Witherspoon) is running unopposed for StudentCouncilPresident. This draws the ire of history and civics teacher Jim [=McAllister=] (Broderick), who [[PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize hates Tracy's attitude]] and feels that the students should have a choice -- any choice -- in the election. There's also the fact that [=McAllister=] is holding a massive grudge against Tracy for engaging in [[TeacherStudentRomance a sexual relationship]] with his best friend and fellow teacher Dave Novotny, which wound up getting him fired and destroying his marriage -- while Tracy (with her mother's help) got the school to cover up the entire incident to protect her reputation.
10
11To foil Tracy's dreams of using an election victory as a springboard for her future, [=McAllister=] recruits injured star football player Paul Metzler (Klein) to run against Tracy. This inspires Paul's lesbian sister Tammy (Campbell) to run as well, in order to get revenge upon Paul for dating Tammy's ex-girlfriend (who dumped Tammy after deciding that [[IncompatibleOrientation she wasn't a lesbian after all]]). Meanwhile, [=McAllister=], feeling a lack of passion in his love life (and fearing his own sexual interest in Tracy), sleeps with Novotny's ex-wife. All of which culminates in the mother of all bad days, as these various trains inevitably crash into each other.
12
13While it earned critical raves, the film had a mediocre reception at the box office, due to the studio [[NeverTrustATrailer screwing up its marketing]] and portraying it as a straight-up teen comedy as opposed to a drama with BlackComedy overtones -- presumably an effort to cash in on the success of ''Film/AmericanPie'' (the fact that Chris Klein is in both films adds a bit of credence to that theory), which came out earlier that year. However, it has come to be embraced as a CultClassic in the years since its release.
14
15In 2022, Perotta wrote a sequel, ''Tracy Flick Can't Win'', featuring the titular character as an assistant principal in a New Jersey high school... and not at all happy about where life has taken her. [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/election-sequel-in-the-works-reese-witherspoon-1235277907/ A film sequel based on the new book is being developed]] for Creator/ParamountPlus, with Witherspoon and Payne set to return in their roles.
16
17Not to be confused with the 2005 film ''[[Film/TriadElection Election]]''.
18
19----
20!!Tropes:
21* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Deconstructed. The student council is ultimately revealed at the end of the film as being highly dysfunctional, [[spoiler:to the point that Tracy can't get ''anything'' accomplished during her tenure as President]]. Furthermore, the film pretty much establishes that the whole thing is one glorified popularity contest. This is why Mr. [=McAllister=] selects Paul to run against Tracy since, as one of the most popular kids at school, more kids in theory will vote for him over Tracy. Furthermore, Tammy's entire campaign platform is based upon the idea of dissolving the student council, as she openly acknowledges that it's a huge fraud and a waste of time for everyone at school.
22* ActorAllusion: Five minutes into the film we see [=McAllister=] throwing questions to the class and asking "[[Creator/BenStein Anybody]]?", an allusion to Creator/MatthewBroderick's best-known role in ''Film/FerrisBuellersDayOff''.
23* AcademicAlphaBitch: Tracy is perhaps the ultimate example as she's smart and ambitious, but also selfish and callous, willing to win the election at all costs. When she sees Tammy's list of signatures supporting her candidacy, she complains that half the students are nobodies.
24* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Tracy, actually; as author Creator/TomPerrotta noted, in the book she is portrayed as far more of a FilleFatale and less vulnerable.
25* AgeInappropriateDress: Tracy is dressed more like president of the PTA than a high school student. This is cleverly inverted when Tracy is portrayed as seen in a more child-like lens when she's seduced by her teacher.
26* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: A student council election at a high school dragging up sordid love affairs and past dirt, all for the sake of vengeance. Notably, only Tracy and [=McAllister=] treat it as such (because they are the aforementioned vengeance-seekers) while the other two candidates really don't care (one is in the race because he was asked to, the other is actually protesting the whole thing).
27* TheAllegedCar: Although it is in reasonable condition, Mr. [=McAllister=] drives a pretty crappy early 90s Ford Festiva compact car (a rebadged Korean-built Kia Pride), a minute car by American standards. Presumably this was chosen deliberately, in the DVD commentary Alexander Payne says "Ford Festiva, the car of an impotent man."
28* AlmightyJanitor: Mr. [=McAllister=] makes the big mistake of unknowingly pissing off the school janitor by dropping a [[ChekhovsGun box of chow mein]] on the floor in an absent-minded attempt at cleaning up the staff room. It bites him in the ass when [[spoiler: the janitor finds the thrown-out ballots in the trash bin and reveals to the principal that he had rigged the election]].
29* ArcSymbol: Pepsi and Coke logos are seen all over the place. Garbage cans are also visible and factor into the story in a variety of ways.
30* ArcWords: A large part of the satire comes from the frequent mention of "morals" and "ethics" and the lack of either on display.
31* BecameTheirOwnAntithesis: At least by his own recollection, Jim was an idealistic teacher who truly cared about touching students' lives, and at the start of the film he urges his students and Dave to be moral as well as ethical people. The movie shows him becoming none of those things.
32* BelatedHappyEnding: In ''Tracy Flick Can't Win'' [[spoiler: Tracy gets the promotion she wants by publicly performing a selfless act - protecting her rival from a gunman - and gains the respect and adoration of the students and her peers - all the while believing she didn't do [[HumbleHero anything special]], she was simply being true to her values.]]
33* BigManOnCampus: Paul is a sports star at his high school; he gets lots of votes in the election just because he's popular.
34* BilingualBonus: Right before Paul is called to the principal's office to learn that he [[spoiler: actually lost the election, his Spanish class is conjugating the verb for "to lose"]].
35* BittersweetEnding:
36** [[spoiler: [=McAllister=] rebuilds his life and finds a new love, but must deal with the fact that Tracy has not only gone on to great things as a congressman's aide, but is still up to her old tricks of seducing older men.]] Though depending on how you interpret the characters it may actually range from Happy to Downer.
37** Tracy wins the election and becomes student council president, only to find that the job is practically meaningless and it doesn't make her any more popular with the students. When she goes on to college she's still a solitary student, ignored by her peers, and she realizes that she'll always be alone even though there is the implication that her overachieving ways may eventually take Tracy to high places.
38* BrainlessBeauty: Paul is a widely admired BigManOnCampus. He's also a total himbo.
39* BreakingTheFourthWall: Paul's last line, spoken directly into the camera: [[spoiler: "Or maybe I'd be dead."]]
40* BrickJoke: In the final scene, [[spoiler: [=McAllister=] encounters another eager young student willing to answer a question. As with Tracy, he's loath to call upon her]].
41* CollegeIsHighSchoolPart2: The college Tracy enters is this, much to her anger. She [[LonelyAtTheTop never finds anybody she could consider an academic peer]] because everybody else is too busy pretending they're in ''Film/AnimalHouse''.
42* CondescendingCompassion: Early on Tracy is heard in a voiceover saying, essentially, that she feels sorry for Mr. [=McAllister=] for being a loser jealous of people like her.
43* CuteAndPsycho: Tracy is portrayed as this, particularly by Mr. [=McAllister=].
44* DeanBitterman: The principal completely overreacts to Tammy's candidacy speech: he wants to punish her for running what is a legitimate protest campaign against Student Council.
45* DecidedByOneVote: [[spoiler: Ironically, the deciding vote comes from Paul, he votes for Tracy because he doesn't know if voting for himself would be the right thing.]]
46* DescriptionCut: [[spoiler: After Paul "wins" the election:]]
47-->'''[=McAllister=]:''' Don't worry about Tracy. She'll be fine.
48-->''(cut to Tracy sobbing inconsolably)''
49* DorkHorseCandidate: Tammy is viewed at this at first; several students in the bleachers mock her before she starts her speech.
50* DumbJock: Paul is a former football star of average intelligence at best. In one of his introductory scenes Mr. [=McAllister=] tries to convince him to run against Tracy with an analogy that even if you like apples, having oranges on offer too gives you the chance to make an informed choice. His response:
51-->'''Paul:''' I also like bananas.
52* EducationMama: Tracy's mother is singlemindedly devoted to her daughter's success.
53* ExtracurricularEnthusiast: In addition to running for student body president, Tracy has a title role in the school musical, an anchor spot on the journalism club, and is on the yearbook staff. She is not shy about highlighting any of these things.
54* FalseConfession: [[spoiler:Tammy lies and says that she tore down Paul's posters, evidently to get expelled from the school and therefore distanced from the people she grew to hate.]]
55* FilleFatale: Jim seems to see Tracy as a FemmeFatale in the making, and the viewer largely sees her through his narration.
56* FlyoverCountry: Although Alexander Payne seems to be proud of his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska -- making it the setting for three of his films, including this one -- he certainly doesn't try to make it look glamourous.
57* {{Foil}}: Jim and Tracy are foils to one another. In particular, both moralize about ethics and right and wrong behavior, while falling on the wrong side more than they are willing to acknowledge.
58* FreezeFrameBonus: [[spoiler: Despite being disqualified, Tammy won the election. Tracy was the runner up.]]
59* FriendsRentControl: Averted: when Jim moves to New York City he has to pay $1550 a month (plus utilities) for a tiny little cramped basement apartment with the bed, bath and kitchen units stuffed into one little room.
60* GoGetterGirl: Hoo boy, is Tracy ever. The trope's page image is a scene from the film of her presiding over a table filled with about a hundred cupcakes, each one individually hand-decorated with the message "Pick Flick" in icing.
61* GoodIsDumb: Paul, the most sympathetic and decent character in the film, is an absolute moron.
62* GracefulLoser: [[spoiler: Paul takes his defeat in stride, caring even less than Tammy and still being the most popular kid in school.]]
63* GrassIsGreener: How Mr. [=McAllister=], possibly to the point of delusion, thinks of his "exciting" new life in New York compared to his old life in Omaha, although he is now living in a ridiculous small apartment instead of a house and has a more humble job as a museum tour guide, probably earning less with a much higher cost of living.
64* GreyAndGrayMorality: Tracy is a [[CuteAndPsycho sweet but borderline psychotic]] overachiever who [[spoiler:tears down Paul's posters in a fit of rage]], Paul is a well-intentioned but [[PopularIsDumb fairly clueless]] guy who's only running because he was told to by his teacher, Tammy is only in the race to get {{revenge}} against Paul and Lisa, and Mr. [=McAllister=] cheats on his wife and [[spoiler:rigs the ballots to deny Tracy the victory]].
65* HardTruthAesop: Despite everything you might have been told, life is ''not'' a meritocracy. Working harder than anyone else doesn't mean you can't be undermined by forces outside of your control.
66* HumiliationConga: Mr [=McAllister=]'s story arc is dedicated to heaping more and more humiliation and failure on him at an ever-increasing speed, especially in the film's final act. He does improve his lot in life a bit by the conclusion, but the way he is presented still makes him look like something of a ButtMonkey.
67* {{Hypocrite}}:
68** Jim does not live up to his civic ideals, as he manipulates the student council election in increasingly unethical ways. There are subtle hints of this early on: He makes a big presentation to Paul about the dangers of candidates running unopposed, but he doesn't mind that the vice presidential candidate has no opponent, and.
69** Tracy has her moments. At one point she speaks earnestly about wanting to be a voice for students who are struggling at school...only to dismiss the supporters of Paul and Tammy's campaigns as losers and nobodies.
70* ImAManICantHelpIt: Mr [=McAllister=] sees his friend Dave as absolutely blameless in cheating on his wife: he blames Tracy for seducing him. Dave himself sees it as his being hopelessly in love with her.
71* ImmediateSelfContradiction: The film has a lot of voiceovers, many of which are accompanied by cuts showing that the narrator isn't being totally honest.
72* IncompatibleOrientation: Why Lisa stops being friends with Tammy. She was straight (and only "experimenting") while Tammy was lesbian and thought the two of them were in love.
73* IrrationalHatred: Whilst Tracy does have her negative side, [=McAllister=] takes his dislike for her ''way'' too far. He views her as an evil ambitious schemer rather than an overachieving student trying to prevent her from becoming Student President even though it's really not that big of a position in the wider picture. It's strongly implied he's like this because he's become so frustrated with his own life he seeks to make himself feel better by sabotaging someone else's, along with the affair he later takes part in.
74* KarmaHoudini:
75** Lisa, as it's strongly implied she dates Paul to hurt Tammy and later a football player to hurt Paul.
76** Tracy is able to to get into Georgetown, and later becomes a senator's aide that she is implied to be having an affair with. However, she has to endure the scorn of everyone around her for her holier-than-thou attitude. Not to mention [=McAllister=] really having it in for her.
77** Tracy in a more specific example. After tearing down Paul's posters she's heading for an expelling, derailing all her ambitions at once. That particular bullet misses her completely.
78** Downplayed with Dave. He escapes going to jail for statutory rape nor is stated to have been made to register as a sex offender. But he loses his wife and son, is fired from his job and all but forbidden from ever getting another teaching job due to his behavior, loses his home and everything he owns in the divorce, has to move back to Milwaukee to live with his parents and ends up in a dead-end job tagging items in a hardware store, clearly miserable and very likely to remain in that position for the rest of his life.
79* LonelyAtTheTop: One interpretation of Tracy. Dave tells her as much when they're dating, albeit in the process of grooming her.
80* LovableJock: Paul is a genuinely kind-hearted person who doesn't say or do a single unkind thing throughout the film. He's almost too nice to be real. He does hurt his sister pain by dating and humping her former soulmate Lisa, but due to his sheer naivete he is ''completely'' unaware of this, or that Lisa is doing it to get back at Tammy.
81* MaleGaze: Used intentionally when Jim is checking out Linda, to highlight his [[UnreliableNarrator unreliable narration]] about getting to know her better.
82* MamaBear: Tracy's mother is instrumental in getting Dave fired once she finds out about him and Tracy.
83* {{Manchild}}: The most generous interpretation of Dave. [=McAllister=] even describes him as someone who went into teaching because he never wanted to leave high school to begin with. Throughout his affair with Tracy, he genuinely can't see anything wrong with his behavior and honestly thinks he and Tracy are an epic love affair rather than a grown man preying on a naive and lonely teen who looked to him as a father figure.
84* ManipulativeBastard: [=McAllister=] manipulates Paul throughout the film, but he's doing it to work Tracy over as well.
85* NominatedAsAPrank: [=McAllister=] goads DumbJock Paul Metzler into running for Student Body President just to fuck with Tracy Flick, who is running unopposed, as Jim hates Tracy and blames her for a teacher-student affair that ruined his best friend's career. Shortly after, Paul's sister Tammy decides to run for Student Body President - on a platform of abolishing the position - just to fuck with Paul, who she blames for supposedly turning her ex-girlfriend straight.
86* NotSoAboveItAll: Tracy, in her portion of the film's narration, rants and raves against the rich kids of the school and how working hard and playing by the rules gives her moral superiority, all before engaging in [[spoiler:blatant vandalism by destroying Paul's posters]], an act she only gets away with because someone else [[spoiler:(Tammy) would rather take credit for the crime]]. She also regularly shows that she's not as mature as she'd like to come across, still viewing her relationship with Dave like it was a fairy tale romance rather than a grown man abusing his position and trust in the worst way possible.
87* OneWordTitle: ''Election'', because of the StudentCouncilPresident election that's the basis of the plot.
88* PassingNotesInClass: Tammy is shown passing Lisa a dramatic, effusive love note in class when they are still together.
89* PickOnSomeoneYourOwnSize: [=McAllister=] finds someone to run against Tracy for the sheer sake of making it more difficult for her to win.
90* PopularIsDumb: Paul is not particularly bright, but as Jim points out, he's one of the most popular students in the school, and the auditorium cheers even before he begins his speech.
91* PyrrhicVictory: [[spoiler: Winning Class President for Tracy, since it's a meaningless position, and she is not very well liked for it anyways]].
92* RageBreakingPoint: Tracy doesn't plan to [[spoiler: tear down the campaign posters]]; she does it in a fit of frustration after accidentally tearing hers.
93* RevisedEnding: The original ending has [[spoiler:Jim working at a car dealership in town having generally recovered from his pariahdom. Tracy shows up to pick up a new car the day before she goes off to college, confronts [=McAllister=] and asks him why he did it. After Mr. [=McAllister=] apologizes, Tracy confesses to being scared about going off to college, but [=McAllister=] reassures her that she'll be okay and signs her yearbook]]. This is taken from the book's ending.
94* RousingSpeech: Tammy gives one during the debate about how meaningless student government is and how the first thing she'd do upon being elected StudentCouncilPresident is to dismantle the system so that the students wouldn't have to sit through these damn speeches and debates. Her speech is by far the most popular of the three, and it's implied that she would've won the election in a {{landslide|Election}} [[spoiler:had she not been disqualified after she [[FalseConfession (falsely) confessed]] to tearing down Paul's campaign posters]].
95* SelfMadeMan: Tracy views herself as one; one of her main [[BerserkButton Berserk Buttons]] is seeing people get ahead based on popularity or money or simply not working for it as much as she personally believes they should. It's shown that her perspective is limited and alienating.
96* SeriousBusiness: The central election. Both Tracy and Jim treat it as a pivotal moment in Tracy's life, something that has the potential to shape her future. To everyone else, the election is basically meaningless and the role comes with almost no actual power or influence and which was never going to make much of a difference to her life either way.
97* SmugSmiler: A RunningGag is that on several occasions, whenever [=McAllister=] sees Tracy the camera will freeze on a shot of her with a ''very'' smug look on her face.
98* SocialClimber: Tracy is primarily the Snob subtype, showing disdain both for the people with money and connections who are more successful than her and the "burnouts" who are less successful. Especially toward the end she shows shades of the Backstabber variety as well. Notably, she openly identifies as one and believes that it is a good thing, that she is simply overcoming challenges.
99* SomethingElseAlsoRises: Jim pursues an affair with Linda. While helping her with errands around the house and [[MaleGaze checking her out]], he is shown holding a wine bottle at crotch level and pulling out the cork.
100* StepfordSmiler: Tracy, especially in Mr. [=McAllister=]'s view, the way she can go from sweet to [[CuteAndPsycho borderline psychotic]]. In several scenes, she flicks on her smile like a light. It's implied that there's ''something'' going on under the surface, though Tracy isn't aware of it.
101* StockFootage: Used in an obvious way when Mr. [=McAllister=] moves to New York, blown-up 16mm footage from the 1960s or 1970s is spliced in as a little montage. Also, feeling elated after starting a fling with Linda, he imagines himself driving a Jaguar E-Type convertible in a classic Italian film, with old-style rear projection behind him. Also used in the scene where Tracy is driving her car at night after [[spoiler:tearing up all the posters]].
102* StudentCouncilPresident: The film revolves around an election for this.
103* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Frequently. Comes with the territory of everyone being an UnreliableNarrator.
104-->'''Tracy:''' ''(discussing her relationship with Dave)'' Since I grew up without a dad, you might assume, psychologically, I was looking for a father figure. But that had nothing to do with it at all. It was just that Dave was so strong, and he made me feel so safe and protected.
105-->'''Tammy:''' It's not like I'm a lesbian or anything. I'm attracted to the person. It's just that all the people I've ever been attracted to happen to be girls.
106* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:After Tracy gets accepted to Georgetown, she expects that she'll easily make friends there under the assumption that all of the students will be just as ambitious and likeminded as her. Instead, she finds that most of them are just privileged rich kids who got there because of their family connections and she's just as alone there as she was at Carver.. She also imagines getting elected head of the student council will give her considerable influence and authority only to find out the council is completely dysfunctional making it impossible for her to achieve anything, and no one else, not even the people on it, take it seriously.]]
107* TallPoppySyndrome: Tracy believes Jim's vendetta against her is driven by this, viewing herself as the "tall poppy" that gets cut down. She is not especially kind about this, and exactly how correct she is about this is left open to interpretation, but the film's events suggest she's not ''entirely'' wrong.
108--> '''Tracy:''' I feel sorry for Mr. [=McAllister=]. I mean, anyone who’s stuck in the same little room, wearing the same stupid clothes, saying the exact same things year after year for all of his life, while his students go on to good colleges and move to big cities and do great things and make loads of money — he’s gotta be at least a little jealous. It’s like my mom says, the weak are always trying to sabotage the strong.
109* TeachersPet: Tracy certainly tries to be one of these, but the teachers we see interact with her hate and/or take advantage of her.
110* TeacherStudentRomance: Dave Novotny, Tracy's geometry teacher, comes on to her after a pizza party for the yearbook, and they begin a relationship both claim to view as this. They got busted, and Dave lost his job and his wife. Fortunately for Tracy's reputation, the whole thing was kept under wraps.
111* TechnicianVersusPerformer: Tracy, who does everything by the book and runs her campaign in CrazyPrepared fashion, is the Technician. Paul and Tammy rely on their popularity and anti-authoritarian attitude and RousingSpeech. The outcome is less one-sided than some applications of this trope. [[spoiler: Paul and Tammy get far more cheers than Tracy, but Tracy gets roughly half of the votes, although it's suggested Tammy might have gotten more had she not been expelled.]]
112* ThemeMusicPowerUp: When Tracy gets really pissed, you'll know it.
113* {{Unishment}}: Tammy's parents try to discipline her by sending her to Catholic school (implied to be all-girl), although that's [[CatholicSchoolGirlsRule exactly where she wants to go]].
114* UnreliableNarrator: Most of the voiceovers, particularly those of Jim, Tracy and Paul, are heavily skewed toward the characters' own perceptions and worldview, sometimes to the point of SuspiciouslySpecificDenial as above.
115* UnwittingPawn: Paul isn't the brightest guy, and so he is very easy to manipulate. Jim convinces him to run for election to sabotage Tracy, while Lisa hooks up with him to hurt Tammy.
116* VillainProtagonist: Mr. [=McAllister=]. Lying, election fraud, adultery, Machiavellian use of [[GoodIsDumb Paul]]... all whilst enacting his plan to bring down the target of his spite. Not really a boy scout.
117* VillainousBreakdown: Although Tracy isn't very good at controlling her emotions anyway, she has one in the scene where [[spoiler:she snaps and tears down all Paul's posters, ending up with bloody hands.]] And also [[spoiler: after she "loses" the election, when she gets home she cries her eyes out]].
118* VisualPun:
119** After discussing the "fruits" of democracy with Mr. M, there is a bowl of the discussed fruits on Paul's kitchen counter.
120** Also Tracy's viewpoints on Coca-Cola staying #1 because of advertising. While drinking a Pepsi, Mr. [=McCallister=] is inspired to pick Paul to run against her. Doubles as a BrickJoke when at the end of the film, [[spoiler: [=McAllister=] throws a Pepsi cup at the limo Tracy is riding in]].
121* VoteEarlyVoteOften: [[spoiler:Inverted, but with the same effect. Mr. [=McAllister=] throws two votes for Tracy into the garbage in order to deny her the victory.]]
122* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue:
123** Tammy gets sent to {{Catholic school|GirlsRule}} [[spoiler:after covering for Tracy by falsely confessing to tearing down the posters]]. She finds that it's not nearly as strict as expected and spends most of her time [[TheStoner getting stoned]] in the bathroom. She also meets her new girlfriend Jennifer.
124** Tracy [[spoiler:is instated as student council president after Mr. [=McAllister's=] fraud is exposed]]. Unfortunately for Tracy, [[spoiler:everyone on Student Council hates her (and each other in general), meaning that Tracy's tenure is a miserable experience all around]]. After graduation, she attends Georgetown University and continues to find herself alone, surrounded by people she considers to be slackers and underachievers who get by on their parents' money. She later becomes a Congressional aide, with it strongly implied that she is having a sexual relationship with the older man.
125** Paul recovers from his injury, rejoins the team, becomes [[HighSchoolDance homecoming king]] ''[[HighSchoolDance and]]'' [[HighSchoolDance prom king]], and goes on to play football for the University of Nebraska. [[spoiler:He wonders where his life would have gone had he won the election, but concludes that he'shappy where he is.]]
126** Mr. [=McAllister=] [[spoiler:is forced to resign after getting caught rigging the student council election and his wife divorces him for cheating on her. And since the scandal happened on a slow news day, the whole thing is picked up by the national media and [=McAllister=] becomes the town pariah. He ultimately moves to UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity where he lives in a tiny yet expensive apartment and manages to land a job working as a tour guide at the Museum of Natural History. This gives him a chance to teach again and he starts dating a co-worker named Gillian.]]
127** Dave [[spoiler:is working a dead-end job stamping price tags at a hardware store]].
128* YouAreWhatYouHate: Jim criticizes Dave for sleeping with a student, but he toes that line himself. He comes up with the idea to recruit Paul while watching porn role-playing a football player and a student, and he has explicit, extended fantasies about Tracy while having sex with his wife.
129* YouCantFightFate: Invoked by Tracy in her OpeningMonologue.
130

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