Did Herb Rule Sneak In Notes To The Debate?

My apologies for not blogging much on the Congressional races this year.  It is hard to stay interested when the question is “Are all four Republican candidates going to win by 20 points or only 15 points?”  There is little (to no) doubt that it will be a sweep.

Nevertheless, the traditional AETN debates are taking place this week.

In the Second Congressional District, incumbent Republican Congressman Tim Griffin debated Democratic challenger Herb Rule along with Libertarian candidate Chris Hayes and Green Party candidate Barbara Ward.

The debate will air tonight at 8:00 pm, but here is something to watch for from someone who sent me this photo below.  The debate rules do not allow candidates to bring notes.  They all get a pen and blank notepad.  But it appeared to those present for the taping that Rule sneaked in some notes which he read from during the debate.

It does not sound like it helped much based on an early report from Gavin Lesnick with Arkansas Online.  Rule stuck to the old talking points on Griffin that the liberals have been hammering for years with no luck.  Lots on the whole U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins deal.  Rule also said he disagreed with the state’s Defense of Marriage Amendment which passed in 2004 with 75 percent of the vote.

Rule’s arrest for DWI’s also came up…

Rule urged voters to watch the Fayetteville Police Department dashboard video of the traffic stop and his subsequent arrest and “judge for themselves.”

“I think it speaks for itself,” said Rule, who is slated to go to trial on the charge on Nov. 28. “I wasn’t drunk and I wasn’t guilty.”

Griffin noted he hasn’t commented on Rule’s arrest “our the one before that,” a reference to Rule’s 2010 arrest on a similar charge. He was not convicted in that case.

Griffin then called some of Rule’s statements to law enforcement in the video “troubling,” saying he shouldn’t have asked the officers if they didn’t “have something better to do.”

“I mean come on,” Griffin said. “You don’t talk to law enforcement that way. It’s disrespectful… If you take that attitude to Washington, you’re not going to get anything done.”

When a candidate for Congress asks voters in a debate to please go watch the video of his DWI arrest, he is in major trouble.  But as a public service to Mr. Rule, you can see the video linked here. That is unless he is talking about his other DWI arrest from 2010 which is linked here.

Anyway, watch the debate tonight and look for Rule’s notebook.