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South Bend Mayor Pete Bootijudge quietly asked Thursday whether anyone else had noticed that Notre Dame students had been talking about him kind of a lot lately.

Bootijudge said, “No, I mean, it’s nice to have the support. I’m flattered, but is it a little much? Like, I just want to make sure this is healthy. You know?”

Bootijudge cited the speed with which Notre Dame students found articles about him and posted them to their social networks. He said, “They shared that NPR story within 6 minutes of it being posted. How did they know it went up? They must have been checking my Twitter right then.”

Sophomore finance major Mark McDaniels said, “Did you know he’s a Rhodes Scholar and a lieutenant in the Navy Reserve? I told all my friends from home about the time he came and talked to my class. They thought it was so cool.”

When asked whether he supported the mayor’s Smart Streets initiative to revitalize downtown South Bend, McDaniels conceded that he “wasn’t really a big politics guy.”