This post is very interesting, LoyceV, merited.
I don't know which criteria Darkstar_ will use to select applicants, and I am not sure we are entitled to know that, but I think it is not only merit related.
I think "quality" of posts is also important, something that is somewhat related to merits, but is not necessarily true. I guess getting 10 merits for posting train memes on WO or getting 50 for "nice project", albeit legal, is not what he's looking for a good campaign participant.

So, an interesting "statistic" to see, would be the first three top merited posts per users. I think ddmrddmr tool has a tab to do that manually for each user (I don't think, I am sure of it because I was the one who asked that feature to him), but with 82 and counting applicants can be a cumbersome task, even for a very motivated campaign manager.

Maybe some of you, data handling demigod, can do that.