Linus' campaign, assisted by Lucy and Charlie Brown, is vigorous and enthusiastic, and he takes a huge early lead in the polls against his opponent, Russell Anderson. At an assembly, Linus and Russell each make a campaign speech, with Linus receiving a rapturous response from the audience. However, at a subsequent assembly, he commits a major blunder when he goes off-script. He begins talking about the Great Pumpkin (after saying he wants to talk to the audience this morning about the Great Pumpkin) --a harkback to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Charlie Brown and Lucy scream in frustration. This gets him laughed off the stage, much to the anger of Lucy.