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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/intro_to_political_science.jpg]]
2
3Dean Pelton announces that as part of a national tour of community colleges, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanPoliticalSystem Vice President]] UsefulNotes/JoeBiden will be visiting Greendale Community College, and will be greeted by the dean and the president of the student council. There's only one problem: Greendale has no student council.
4
5Not to be undone, the dean announces that over the next seven hours Greendale will be holding elections for student president. Naturally, Annie announces her candidacy in a flurry of idealistic over-eagerness; annoyed, Jeff too decides to run, and his style-over-substance campaign ensures that heads will be butted before long.
6
7Meanwhile, Troy and Abed cover the proceedings for the school television channel -- and Abed finds himself drawn to Special Agent Vohlers of the Secret Service.
8
9-----
10!!The ''Series/{{Community}}'' episode "Intro to Political Science" provides examples of:
11* EightiesHair: In a video set in 1993, but nevertheless, it's there.
12* ActorAllusion: One of Troy's comments about Starburns is that he "seems Greek." Starburns' actor, Dino Stamatopoulos, is Greek-American.
13** And Jeff's campaign fails when the school sees his ''Real World: UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}}'' audition tape from 1997. Creator/JoelMcHale, who portrays Jeff, grew up in Greater Seattle.
14* AllElectionsAreSeriousBusiness: Both Annie and Jeff suffer this.
15** Annie believes she is entitled to win and is willing to destroy a friendship if it means she doesn't lose.
16** Jeff is unwilling to help Annie because he would rather be proven right about his cynical political views than pitch in to help a friend.
17** Though somewhat subverted as even though Annie and Jeff take the election deathly serious, the rest of the school doesn't give a shit about it. The election ends up getting eleven votes total and WesternAnimation/SouthPark (yes, the cartoon) ends up winning with seven of those votes, causing Dean Pelton to remember that this was why they abolished student government in the first place and to do so again.
18* AmbitionIsEvil: Annie's ambitions in running for student government are benevolent in and of themselves. But she considers herself entitled to win and, when faced with Jeff's superficial and glib campaign becoming more successful than her merit-based argument, becomes increasingly unethical in pursuit of victory until the point that she almost ends up destroying their friendship.
19* AntiClimax: At the end of the episode, the winner of the election is ... no one. Well, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', but it's ineligible, due to being, y'know, a television show instead of a person.
20* BeneathNotice: One of the government agents surveilling the campus is disguised as a cleaner.
21* BewareTheQuietOnes: Vicki doesn't say much and leaves the elections before she can. Pierce drops out to harangue her more about not lending him a pencil. She delivers it to him -- straight through the cheek.
22* BirdsOfAFeather: Abed and Special Agent Vohlers.
23* CannotSpitItOut: Special Agent Vohlers:
24-->'''Vohlers:''' You smell like nice soap. I have to go. I'm sorry you weren't a more obvious potential threat to the country.
25* CassandraTruth:
26-->'''Abed:''' The Vice President is coming? That explains the people I've noticed covertly surveilling the campus this week. Must be Secret Service.\
27'''Jeff:''' [''Patronising''] Oh, Abed. Will your reality ever come out on Blu-Ray so ''we'' can enjoy it?\
28'''Undercover Secret Service Agent:''' [''Unnoticed outside the room, sotto voce''] We've been made.
29* CharacterCatchphrase: Magnitude is given many opportunities to use his throughout the debate scenes.
30-->'''Dean Pelton''': Magnitude, a response?
31-->'''Magnitude''': I think you know, Dean! [''In unison with audience''] '''''"Pop Pop"!!'''''
32-->'''Dean Pelton''': [''Chuckling affectionately''] Ahhh ... I set him up.
33* TheChewToy: Britta is the only presidential entrant who doesn't get any applause; could be that her stated platform, in its entirety, is that "humankind need not be governed."
34* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: In the news ticker during Abed and Troy's political commentary, Professor Slater is noted as [[LampshadeHanging "still missing."]]
35* ContinuityNod: This episode, like [[Recap/CommunityS2E07AerodynamicsOfGender "Aerodynamics of Gender"]] before it, contains a couple FreezeFrameBonus hints at future plots, such as the western theme of the [[Recap/CommunityS2E23AFistfulOfPaintballs next]] [[Recap/CommunityS2E24ForAFewPaintballsMore paintball]] episodes.
36** Annie punctuates her speeches with the same stilted hand gestures she used during the debate championships.
37** Jeff chooses not to hide in the men's room as he [[Recap/CommunityS2E12AsianPopulationStudies knows that doesn't work]]. Instead, he lies in a closet behind a "weather forecast" greenboard from one ''Troy and Abed in the Morning'' segment.
38** The Air Vent Monster in the news crawl for ''Troy and Abed in the Morning'' is Troy's monkey, Annie's Boobs.
39** A bit of a stretch, but Annie wants to make Greendale the best community college in the western three-quarters of the county. In "[[Recap/CommunityS2E04BasicRocketScience Basic Rocket Science]]", when we see the graphic of City College's expanding parking lot, Greendale is indeed to the west of City College, acknowledging their rival.
40** Pierce's age is listed as [[Recap/CommunityS2E14AdvancedDungeonsAndDragons "66, dick."]]
41** [[Recap/CommunityS1E21ContemporaryAmericanPoultry Chicken finger shortage continues]] says the ticker underneath Troy and Abed's political show.
42** In [[Recap/CommunityS1E12ComparativeReligion "Comparative Religion"]], Jeff mentioned he "keeps his guitar in its case". We see him playing guitar in his ''Real World'' audition tape.
43* {{Crawl}}: Troy and Abed's election coverage has a cable news-style ticker on the bottom of the screen with items like "Human Being mascot: Offensive to animals?" and "No paintball this spring claims Dean."
44** The last one is [[LampshadeHanging "Tickers: Do we watch them?"]]
45* CreepyCrossdresser: The Dean is a little ''too'' insistent that he has no choice but to wear his 'sister's' ([[FanDisservice rather unflattering]]) Uncle Sam costume.
46-->'''Dean Pelton:''' It's tailored for ladies, but what else could I do on such short notice?\
47'''Jeff:''' Well, you could not dress up as Uncle Sam. Or admit you don't have a sister.
48* DarkHorseVictory: Out of eight potential candidates, a write-in vote, ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' (not any of the characters or anything, ''[[RefugeInAudacity the TV show itself]]''), ended up winning in the end.
49* DisproportionateRetribution: Pierce joins the student council election solely to bully and torment Vicki, a fellow candidate -- who refused to lend him a pencil. This backfires on him when she eventually does 'lend' him one -- through his cheek.
50* EasilyForgiven: Annie and Jeff to each other for their pettiness. Jeff admits he was being a jerk to Annie for no reason about her desire to improve the school. What Annie did to Jeff ensures that he'll be hearing the embarrassing song he recorded for a few weeks. They still make up.
51* ElectionDayEpisode: In this episode Greendale attempts to elect a StudentCouncilPresident. Three of the protagonists run while another two cover the elections. The primaries are decided by applause and the winner is ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''.
52* ExactWords:
53** Jeff did hang all Annie's campaign fliers up.
54** Vicki finally lends Pierce a pencil: she stabs him in the face with it.
55* EveryoneHasStandards: [[Recap/CommunityS1E15RomanticExpressionism Abed will watch bad movies to mock them.]] Even he thinks ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' was just too terrible.
56* TheFaceless: All we see of Vice President Biden is the back of his head and his voice ([[HilariousInHindsight "I had a dream that I was a regular president"]]).
57* FlatCharacter: Vicky is so nondescript that Troy and Abed can't think of a single thing to say about her. Possibly {{averted|Trope}} at the end, when we learn that she's got at least one definite character trait: she responds quite forcefully to people harassing her over pencils.
58* FriendshipStrainingCompetition: Jeff and Annie run against each other in an election for class president. After Jeff attacks Annie's idealism at several turns, she retaliates by showing everyone an embarrassing video Jeff made a long time ago. He drops out of the election as a result, and she follows suit out of guilt. They patch things up afterwards.
59* {{Foreshadowing}}: The {{Crawl}}: "Dean announces end-of-year picnic, implies 'Western Theme'."
60* FunnyBackgroundEvent:
61** [[RewatchBonus After you rewind]], you'll note the agent who says "we've been made" after Abed makes his comment about the campus being watched was there at least since the dean walked in, wiping the same pane of glass repeatedly.
62** During one of Jeff and Annie's conversations behind the podiums, whenever the camera faces Jeff we can see Magnitude dancing ridiculously for no reason, because that's just how he rolls.
63* GetARoom: Troy says this to the BirdsOfAFeather.
64* HeelRealization: Both Jeff and Annie -- Jeff in that he's trying to poison an idealistic attempt to make the world a better place for no better reason than to justify and feel better about his own cynicism, and Annie when she realizes that her own ruthlessness and entitlement almost lead her to destroy a friendship rather than lose an election. Both end up dropping out of the race because they realize that they don't deserve to win.
65* HeldGaze: Jeff and Annie have two in this episode. One when they're talking up on the stage and Annie's telling Jeff that the gloves are coming off and he gives her his "Annie smile" and then another one in the storage room when they make up. And then [[MomentKiller Pierce]] interrupts...
66* HopelessAuditionees: Britta during the debate nominations, Jeff in his ''Real World'' audition.
67* IJustWantToBeNormal: In the ShowWithinAShow when Abed is watching ''Kickpuncher'' in {{the tag}}:
68-->'''Grateful citizen''': You've done so much for our city, Kickpuncher; is there anything we can give you?
69-->'''Kickpuncher''': Don't call me Kickpuncher ... call me ... [[FirstNameBasis David]].
70* IgnoredEpiphany: Pierce notices that the rest of the group is awkward around him for his cruel pranks from [[Recap/CommunityS2E16IntermediateDocumentaryFilmmaking the previous episode]]. His mind is also clearer from going to rehab. He decides the best course of action is to hassle someone from outside the group since they aren't friends. Vicki reveals she's not a pushover and stabs him in the cheek with a pencil.
71* ImStandingRightHere: In the debate, Annie promises to balance the school's budget by "eliminating administrative redundancies."
72-->'''Dean Pelton''': Okay. I'm in the room.
73* IRegretNothing: Used as Jeff's quotation in his political profile.
74* IsThisThingStillOn: Pierce's attempt to psych out Vicki is unwittingly caught by the microphone, which is switched on. Pierce is not at all bothered by this.
75* JerkassBall: Jeff grabs it when mocking Annie about how her becoming president won't actually change anything. Later, Annie grabs it from Jeff when he manages to sway the crowd with only a few choice words.
76* KillItWithFire:
77-->'''Annie:''' I have so many ideas for improving the school.\
78'''Jeff:''' Improving Greendale take more than ideas, Annie. It takes time, gasoline, matches ...
79* LastSecondWordSwap: Agent Robin Vohlers corrects herself in the nick of time before revealing embarrassing details from her childhood.
80-->"Couldn't you just pick the sixth kid every time? That's what I ... [{{Beat}}] would have done."
81* TheMenInBlack: The government agents.
82* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Annie clearly feels rather ashamed of herself when her exposure of Jeff's ''Real World'' audition tape causes him to storm off upset.
83* NiceCharacterMeanActor: Troy is mean when the camera isn't rolling.
84-->''"Can I have an apple juice, please? Freshly squeezed this time or so help me God, Maurice!"''
85* NoodleIncident: The Ass-Crack Bandit, in this episode at least. It gets elaborated on in a later episode.
86* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: Troy touches his ear repeatedly in the scenes where he plays a commentator. He isn't actually wearing an earpiece.
87* OldShame: InUniverse, Jeff's audition tape for the 1997 series of ''Real World Seattle'' is this to him.
88* OnceForYesTwiceForNo: Abed uses this with Special Agent Vohlers.
89* OverlyNarrowSuperlative: Annie promises "to make Greendale ''the'' signature community college of the entire western three-quarters of the Greendale area."
90** In "[[Recap/CommunityS3E08DocumentaryFilmmakingRedux Documentary Filmmaking Redux"]], we learn that this is a slogan from the 1990s Greendale commercial.
91* PanderingToTheBase: InUniverse. Leonard changes his last name to Rodriguez to "court the Hispanic vote."
92* ParanoiaGambit: Abed to the Secret Service so that Robin Vohlers has an excuse to spy on him.
93-->'''Abed:''' For GCTV this is Abed Nadir saying: Did you know you can make napalm out of common dish soap and cat food?
94* PassiveAggressiveKombat: Jeff and Annie slash out at each other on stage while keeping up a StepfordSmiler façade, just like real politicians do.
95* PoliticalOvercorrectness: The GCTV ticker informs us that Greendale's mascot may be offensive to animals.
96* PretentiousPronunciation: Part of Jeff's attempt to pander to the Latino vote is to pronounce certain words and names with a Hispanic accent, but he also does this with "cafeteria", an English word.
97* RansackedRoom: TheMenInBlack mess up Abed's room pretty well.
98* RememberTheNewGuy: Parodied with Vicki, the only student entering the election who we've never seen or heard from before this episode. We learn ''absolutely nothing'' about her except for the fact that she's wearing a yellow shirt and once refused to lend Pierce a pencil.
99* RunningAwayToCry: Annie says that Jeff did this when the video of his Real-World audition was screened. Jeff does do this.
100* RussianReversal: Lampshaded by Jeff, who notes that the audience loves him switching phrases around.
101* SadClown: Pierce muses on conflict:
102-->'''Pierce''': When we seek to destroy others, we often hurt ourselves. Because it is the ''self'' that ''wants'' to be destroyed.\
103'''Jeff''': Pierce, you're [[HiddenDepths not usually so poignant]].\
104'''Pierce''': Yeah, well, Vicki finally lent me her pencil. ''[[MortalWoundReveal Turns to reveal a pencil stabbed through his cheek.]]''
105* {{Scandalgate}}: The title of Troy and Abed's show is ''[=DecisionGate=]: Gateway to Election Road''.
106* ShapedLikeItself: Troy counting notches.
107* ShipTease: For Jeff and Annie. Their "Resolved" conversation is quite shippy and comes with another HeldGaze and a potential AlmostKiss.
108* ShutUpHannibal: Annie gives a pretty scathing one to Jeff right before he begins his campaign against her.
109--> '''Jeff:''' Face it, Annie: Politics are all about ego, popularity, and parlor tricks. Don't kid a lawyer.\
110'''Annie:''' Well, if I see one, I won't.
111* SmokingBarrelBlowout: Annie does a shooting and blow-out gesture with her remote when the OldShame[[invoked]] video of Jeff is playing.
112* StalkerWithACrush: Abed acquires one. She's a Secret Service agent. [[BirdsOfAFeather Not that he minds.]]
113* StockScream: The Wilhelm scream shows up in the cheesy movie Abed takes the Secret Service agent to on their date.
114* StrangeMindsThinkAlike: Along with five other people, both Troy and Abed vote for ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' as school council president.
115* StumbledIntoThePlot: Garrett ends up as one of the candidates for student council president because [[JustHereForTheFreeSnacks he thought he was getting in line for ice cream]].
116* TakeThat:
117-->'''Secret Service agent:''' [''After searching Abed's bag''] He's clean. Although I could issue a warning for this bootleg of ''Film/TheLastAirbender''.\
118'''Abed:''' Where were you a week ago? You can keep it.
119** Starburns stops his presidential bid because he believed it would [[InsultToRocks "shine a negative light on" his drug dealing]].
120* TechnicolorEyes: Magnitude ([[RunningGag "POP, POP!"]]) purportedly has ultraviolet eyes.
121* ThingOMeter: When selecting candidates for the presidential elections, the Dean elects to act as a human "applause-o-meter" to let how much applause each candidate receives decide whether they make it through to the debate process. Since every candidate receives a smattering of polite applause, he ends up letting them all in -- and then begins to wonder why so many people seem to be getting nominated. Then, Britta takes the stage with her [[StrawCharacter anarchist views]] on the situation:
122-->'''Britta:''' I believe humankind need not be governed!\
123[''No applause whatsoever'']\
124'''Britta:''' [''Petulantly''] I don't care.\
125'''Dean:''' Well, it's good to know there's a floor on this thing...
126* VanInBlack: In the last scene the female agent is seen spying on Abed from a flower service truck.
127* VicePresidentWho: Joe Biden makes an appearance ([[TheFaceless sort of]]) while on a vice-presidential tour that was going to stop at Greendale. This trope is referenced when he wakes up from a nap and says, "I had a dream about being a ''real'' president."

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