Dead Prez: As the old saying goes, you can't argue with success. During his tenure as University of Georgia president, Michael Adams has raised the caliber of the students and the faculty, reshaped the campus and made UGA one of the best public universities in the country. He's probably raised more private donations than all his predecessors put together.

So why, then, is Adams about as popular in Athens as Steve Spurrier?

Exhibit A: Legion Pool. Less than a year after demolishing historic Rutherford Hall against the wishes of Athens residents, Adams set his sights on the beloved Depression-era gathering place. The backlash caught him by surprise, as he's acknowledged several times.

Michael Adams has a sad.

At his monthly press conference last week, Adams expressed frustration at the amount of attention Legion Pool is getting at the expense, according to him, of weightier issues like state budget cuts. "There's been more written about a pool than all this other stuff, which is five or six times more important," he said. He blamed the outcry on a new Board of Regents policy requiring him to provide three months' notice, rather than do it under cover of night. And he called financial figures from his own architects that Legion Pool supporters have used against him—$490,000 for renovation versus $2.6 million for a new pool—"erroneous" and "preliminary."

"That just shows the blind side he has to the community," responded Grady Thrasher.

The pressure Thrasher and others are putting on the UGA administration and the Board of Regents appears to be working. They won the right to a yet-to-be-scheduled public hearing, and a vote next week on whether to allow UGA to demolish Legion Pool has been pushed back indefinitely. "We have not made a decision on whether to go forward with that," Adams said.

Exhibit B: At the same press conference, Adams made comments in support of Sigma Chi's efforts to build a fraternity house on North Milledge Avenue. Those efforts, by the way, are the result of the Adams Administration forcing Sigma Chi off Lumpkin Street to make way for a new Terry College of Business building. Of course, Cobbham residents are ready to go all Dean Wormer on their behinds, but Adams sided with the students and wealthy alumni. Again, he said he doesn't see what the big deal is, citing his own experience living near a frat house at Centre College in Kentucky. Of course, Adams doesn't live in the President's House a football field away from the SAE and Kappa Alpha party pads, which might alter his perspective.

Hail to the Chief: The search is on for Adams' replacement, and representatives from the committee who will be choosing the next president descended on campus last week to gather input from faculty, staff and students.

The committee, led by Regent Larry Walker, a former state legislator from Perry, and Dallas headhunter Bill Funk, says it's identified about 60 potential candidates, a pool that will be narrowed down in stages over the next six months until a sole finalist is unveiled next spring.

Attendees at a public hearing on campus said they want someone with strong academic credentials, strong consideration for female and minority candidates and someone who will emphasize historic preservation and environmentalism. Perhaps the most astute comment, though, came from from geography professor John Knox, who asked if the committee is looking for a politician, given that Funk led a search that installed former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels as head of Purdue University. "We want someone in academia," Walker said. "I've heard no talk of that, frankly."

So it appears that former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, widely rumored to want the job when Adams stepped down, is not in the running. Of course, a politician is occupying the office currently—Adams started his career as an aide to former Tennessee Sen. Howard Baker and Gov. Lamar Alexander.

Vote or Die: Time is running out to register to vote and still be eligible to cast a ballot in November. The deadline is Tuesday, Oct., 9, so if you haven't already, get thee to the Athens-Clarke Board of Elections.

In other election-related news, A presidential debate-watching party is at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3 at the downtown Transmetropolitan. An Obama for America field organizer is headlining an Oct. 13 rally at the Clarke County Democratic Committee headquarters on Tracy Street. And CCDC is phone-banking in opposition to the charter schools amendment to the state constitution Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. (Look for more on that amendment in next week's Flagpole.)

Behind Enemy Lines: Speaking of charter schools, guess who showed up at a CCDC panel discussion last week? None other than Regina Quick, the Republican who ousted state Rep. Doug McKillip, R-Athens, in July with lots of help from Democrats. "Let the record show that I am not here to support the Obama agenda," Quick assured me. "Just because you are at a ballet does not make you a ballerina."

Duly noted.