Finally, after some technical trouble, we finally have my interview with Scott Pace, candidate for state representative in district 31, up and ready for viewing. This is our first video interview with a candidate for any office, but it will not be our last. In the course of our conversation, Scott and I talked about real issues facing the state of Arkansas, and I think we managed to successfully move away from the soundbite politics that I hate so much as we did. I’ll have a few more thoughts down below, after the video:

Now, first let me say that I had a blast filming this and talking with Scott. He really is a standup guy and a good candidate. There were a lot of answers that I wasn’t too thrilled with, especially his handling of the one on employment discrimination, but there were others that he thrilled me with, like his answers on health care and climate change. While he has some improvements to make, he is a good candidate I think for a very tough district, and it will be much better to see him in the state legislature than his opponent-the infamous David Sanders.

There is one other thing I want to add. For those who might be worried by his handling of that last question, let me share this little story with you. I took Roby along with me for this trip, and while Scott never said anything someone would have to be pretty thick to meet the two of us and not catch on to what our relationship is. After the interview was officially over, Scott and Roby struck up a conversation about various things, most related to education (Roby’s a teacher-and Scott made it clear that he understood the issue in depth), and the two hit it off great. On the way back, I asked Roby if he would vote for him and the response was “Absolutely!”.

Scott is running in a tough district in what a lot of observers think may be a tough year for Democrats across the board in Arkansas. That said, I think he is an excellent candidate, and while I think he has a little room for improvement on one or two things, his depth of knowledge and understanding as well as his commitment to fairness and social tolerance struck me during the course of the interview. He hasn’t gotten a Blue Arkansas endorsement as of yet-remember, I’m not the only one in charge of those decisions anymore-but speaking for myself I can’t think of a better candidate to take on Mr. Sanders and, potentially, win this seat for the Democrats.

So, if you want to learn more about Scott and his campaign, check out his website.

I had planned to have my Q&A session with Scott Pace up this morning.  Unfortunately, I’m having some technical issues and will therefor have to page the Tech Guy when he gets off work tonight. The video is still fine though and will be up soon enough. It was a good interview, and I think you guys will find it (and Scott’s candidacy) interesting.

The video won’t be the last one either. I’m already working on scheduling some time with other candidates for various offices. Hopefully, you guys will get a taste of it over the next few days, as I could have, besides the interview with Scott, a video with another candidate up this week.