The law of large numbers said it had to happen once. This year — rather than going to a gaggle of bright-eyed freshmen girls — the Draw’s lowest number belongs to a more eccentric pair: rising seniors Red Daly and Sean Follmer.

If you can’t quite place the names, Daly and Follmer were the masterminds behind Rumsfest, a mock celebration of Donald Rumsfeld’s appointment as a Hoover Fellow. Earlier this spring, Daly gained quasi-celebrity status on campus through his run for ASSU president. His slate, REVOLUTION!, is known by its palm and sickle emblem — which, in the week before the election, was projected in red lights onto the side of Hoover Tower — as well as its spectacular failure in the election itself, where it garnered fewer than 200 votes.

Daly sees his draw number as political vindication.

“I think it’s kind of a wink and a nod from somebody,” Daly said. “I think this clearly indicates our triumph over our political foes. I mean, I did get a better number than every other candidate — put that on your five-point platform.”

Last week, five sophomores and one freshman received a different kind of sign from the heavens — this unlucky Draw group received the number 3,000.

“We’re just extremely unlucky,” said Abe Cabangbang ‘10. He and his drawmates do not believe that they did anything to jinx themselves.

“If I start thinking about that, I’ll get really paranoid,” he said.

However, more superstitious students might blame the circumstances under which the boys found out their number.

“My roommate made a joke like five seconds before we checked about being 3,000,” recalled Dan Matte ‘10, who currently lives in Twain with four other members of the group. His fifth drawmate lives in Mars.

The other four students are Matt Hartz ‘10, Sevastian Tchernov ‘11, Greg Enenstein ‘10 and Reid Chandler ‘10.

The drawmates get a strange satisfaction out of telling friends about their number.

“At first they don’t believe it, or they just laugh at us,” Matte said. “People will come up to us and say, ‘You won’t believe how bad our number is,’ but then it’s actually a 2500 or something. They think they’re the most screwed until they find out what our number is.”

Daly and Follmer don’t have to worry about that kind of reaction. When asked about how it feels to draw a number one, Daly responded:

“I actually got a half. Sean got the other half.”

“Sean is in Spain,” he continued. “He called asking what our Draw number was, and I told him — before I’d seen it — that it was one. He said, ‘Bullshit,’ and hung up. Then I got an email from him the next day, and he told me we got a one, so I emailed back, ‘Bullshit.’ And then I looked online — and, sure enough — we got number one.”

“I was looking on Axess,” recalled Follmer, “and I was like, well, that’s where the number’s supposed to go, but there’s only one number there...that’s strange.”

In fact, Daly and Follmer have been drawing number one since they were freshmen. Or at least, that’s what they’ve been telling people.

“Freshmen year, my four drawmates and I threw a party celebrating getting number one...before we actually got our number,” said Daly.

“One of our friends, Lisa Ruskin [‘09], told us we were going to get a 1999,” Follmer said.

“We ended up drawing a 1983,” Daly said. “Horrible year — horrible year for the country, horrible year for Red.”

“Lisa’s in Madrid with me right now, so, this year, I asked her to bless my draw group, and then we got a number one,” said Follmer. “We’re pretty sure she’s a witch.”

Rather than draw into Bob — the traditional residence for Draw victors — the two are opting for Chi Theta Chi. But then, Daly and Follmer are anything but traditional.

“Bob has rats,” said Daly. “And I’ve found that people who live outside Chi Theta Chi are degenerates. Freaks. I just want to live with some normal people — good, wholesome American living. That’s what they do so well at Chi Theta Chi.”

One of the most popular co-ops on campus, Chi Theta Chi rarely accepts residents who do not apply for priority beforehand.

“I got priority there after a hard day of labor. It was grueling. It was very intense,” said Daly. “Well, actually I couldn’t say. I had one of my assistants do it for me — my time is worth more than that.”

“It’s where we’ve wanted to live every year,” Follmer added.

As for Matte, Cabangbang and fellows, they might be living in Murray next year.

“Four of us got priority, but the other two didn’t, so I don’t know what we’re going to do about that,” Matte said. “At this point, though, I think we all might be equally screwed.”

Cabangbang regrets not applying to be on staff next year instead.

“In retrospect, it’d be nice,” he said.

One thing the group does not want to do is live off campus.

“I’d rather camp on Escondido,” said Cabangbang. “I definitely want to stay on campus, even if it means living in graduate housing.”

What Cabangbang finds so unappealing about living off campus is “the idea of being so isolated from everyone on campus.”

“I’d just feel so disconnected from everyone,” he said. “On campus, the people you want to see are right next door.”

Both groups have strong opinions about reforming the Draw.

“A lot of people have been talking about reforming the Draw,” Daly said. “It’s pernicious, and it goes against my personal American values of free enterprise.”

“I never would have been able to achieve what I’ve achieved were it not for the great free market system at Stanford and beyond,” he added.

Matte and Cabangbang, though both were unlucky this year, have different ideas about the draw.

“Maybe people who want a better room could pay more, and people who don’t could pay less,” Matte said. “It’s just more efficient.”

“They’d get shitty housing!” countered Cabangbang.

“Yeah, but they can at least stay here for cheaper,” Matte rejoined.

“I think it’d be nice if the Draw were more specific,” Cabangbang said, suggesting breaking the three years up by the thousands. “Make it less likely that people get screwed all three years, and more likely that people can join the 90 club.”

That would certainly include Daly and Follmer. Although there are currently no plans to celebrate the number, Daly encourages everyone to attend Floatopia — what he calls the “main feature” of the quarter.

Floatopia, scheduled for May 25th, will be “a floating party on Lake Lag — everyone is building boats, weird watercrafts,” said Daly.

“There will be absolutely no alcohol,” he added. “So don’t bring a floating keg.”

“Everyone should come to Floatopia,” Follmer said.

Cabangbang may have to wait a little longer to celebrate, but he believes that the just universe will eventually repay him for the 3,000.

“How? I have no idea,” he said. “That’s the beauty of it.”

Matte disagrees.

“I believe in justice and stuff, but I don’t think anyone cares about my high Draw number,” he said. “I’m not really that superstitious. Whatever, it’s a number. It’s luck of the draw, it really is. At the end of the day it is what it is — completely out of our control.”

“There’s so many things that are worse in life that could happen to you,” he added. “Just the opportunity for good housing is good enough for me.”