Monday, May 17, 2010

What to make of the Peterson video?

You may recall a couple of weeks ago I invited three of the candidates for Alabama's Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries to submit a guest post on the topic of their choosing. Of the three, Glen Zorn was the lone Democrat seeking the office, with Dorman Grace and John McMillan the front runners for the GOP nomination.

Absent (but not noticeably judging by the lack of inquiries) was long-shot candidate Dale Peterson, who is also running on the Republican ticket.

Well, Mr. Peterson's name recognition has gone WAY up thanks in part to this recently released campaign video:



What to make of this video? It's...interesting. Different, too, that's for sure. Without knowing the man personally it's hard for me to judge if this is an over-the-top act or his true persona (like comments on other sites claim it is). Is his Marine/cop/cowboy tough-guy approach genuine and does he think it would be an effective way to lead Alabama's Ag Dept. in helping create opportunities for the state's farmers and agribusinesses? Is this a "whoever makes the most noise will win" campaign tactic? Is it somewhere in the middle?

I'd love to know your take on it. If you're an Alabamian, does this video make you more or less likely to vote for him and why? And if you're one of my readers from beyond the borders of Alabama the Beautiful, does Mr. Peterson embody what you would like to have in an Ag Commissioner/Secretary?

And even though I doubt Mr. Peterson will be getting "The Dairyman's Blog" endorsement, I'd be tickled to death to have just 1% of his video views on my next MooTube Minute!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree, but hopefully voters will see past the publicity stunt and will vote for the right candidate.

Max Shelby said...

I have talked to two of these candidates, McMillan and Peterson.

They are both good men and care about farming, not surface mining like another candidate running.

Either one would do a great job.

Anonymous said...

We need people in government that "give a rip about Alabama". Seriously though, I met the man back in Feb of this year when he and John McMillan were in Greenville. My brother said that night he was voting for Peterson. Dorman Grace wasn't there but I'm not sure he had actually announced he was running at that time. I like the ad and it makes me more likely to vote for Peterson. The campaign contribution issue that he mentions in regard to Grace looks like it is a real issue. I think I'll vote for Dale Peterson.