The place: a Northwest Arkanass forum sponsored by the Farm Bureau. The candidates: Democrat Mike Ross and Republican Asa Hutchinson. The question: Are you a member of the Farm Bureau?
Test scores: Ross (A); Hutchinson (F).
Hutchinson, who’s recently aired a feel-good ad about his deep love of the farm community, confessed he wasn’t a member and indicated he didn’t know how you became a member. Not Mike Ross.
Transcript from the Ross campaign:
Larry Henry: Let me ask both of you guys this: Are you a Farm Bureau Member and if so how long have you been a member?
Asa Hutchinson: I didn’t pay any money.
[Pause. Audience Reactions.]
I don’t know whether I’m a member of the Farm Bureau. I haven’t – I’ve been in Congress, I worked with the Farm Bureau, uh, I’ve been to your meetings. I’m not sure what it takes to be an official member.
Larry Henry: Same thing to you.
Mike Ross: I am a member of Arkansas Farm Bureau. I pay my – what is it – thirty-five dollar annual fee. And I always get that free dinner at the Prescott-Nevada County Fair.
Score one — maybe two — for Farmer Mike. City Boy Asa better do some more homework. Said the Ross campaign:
Congressman Hutchinson demonstrated once again how totally disconnected he is from Arkansas. …
Agriculture is Arkansas’s largest industry and accounts for over 25% of Arkansas’s economy. Hundreds of thousands of Arkansans are employed in agriculture jobs. Arkansas needs a Governor who will fight for Arkansas agriculture and understands Arkansas farmers and their way of life.
