Opinions

Alaska Robotics News: Candidates and their 'lame tricks'

Editor's note: This is the third in a series of six Alaska Robotics News multimedia commentaries leading up to the 2014 general election. Look online for new videos each Monday and Thursday.

Unless you've been hiding in a cave on the moon, you probably caught the Sullivan campaign's advertisement featuring X-Games silver medalist Cory Davis. Davis calls out Sen. Mark Begich for his lame riding skills and inability to fly through the air in slow motion on a quarter-ton sled.

I think it's one of the more annoying political ads this year. Davis seems likable, friendly even, and the spot itself has admirable production quality. There's just no substance.

At first I thought the commercial might be a more nuanced criticism of Begich, I didn't know the Colville River Road project and thought Dan Sullivan might be implying some more condemnable act. For example, if Begich had taken credit here for a project he didn't work on, that would be a lame trick. But that doesn't appear to be the case.

A quick breeze through news archives reveals several articles providing evidence that Begich has been involved in the Colville River project for years and was a big part of making it happen by repeatedly pushing back against the feds.

I'm not saying this is a reason to vote for Begich, but I do think we should all be demanding a little more from Sullivan before we hand him the keys to the sled. He's campaigning on hyperbole and sound bites and that shouldn't cut it.

I would like to vote for more than a construct built in thirty second increments.

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Contributors' note: We're working on three more of these segments before the election and we're interested in what you'd like us cover. Drop a comment here or you can always email us at hotnewztips4u@alaskarobotics.com.

Created by Pat Race, Lou Logan, Aaron Suring, Jamie Karnik and many others, Alaska Robotics News is a political satire series focused on Alaska. The series was initially funded through Kickstarter and some cash donated in an unmarked brown paper bag. Alaska Robotics is group in Juneau publishing short films, comics and many other creative works. Follow their projects online at AlaskaRobotics.com or in person at their gallery at 220 Front Street.

The views expressed here are the writer's own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary(at)alaskadispatch.com.

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