My Kodak Zi6 pocket video camera came through like a champ last night. I got a good hour-plus of video from last night's AAUW candidates forum at the DSU Trojan Center, all on one set of batteries! Whoo-hoo!
You can see almost every bit of the forum on the Madville Times channel on YouTube: introductory statements from candidates for state legislature and Lake County Commission, sheriff, and auditor, along with video of the nine (count 'em, nine!) audience questions for the various candidates.
What you won't see are Republican Senator Russell Olson and Democratic Representative Mitch Fargen. Forum moderator Monica Campbell said Mitch had to work; I did not catch Russ's reason for ditching.
The only part of the forum I didn't capture: introductions from Democratic candidate for Lake County auditor Roberta Janke and Republican incumbent candidate for Lake County Sheriff Roger Hartman. Pure operator error: I forgot to hit the button! Grrr. I also learned another valuable video-blogging rule: if your doing video and text, for pete's sake, don't set your camera right next to your clickety-clack keyboard! Sorry about that, eager readers.
Audience questions weren't on microphone, so some are inaudible, but you can see the questions on the YouTube explanations for each video and on my running semi-transcript of the forum from last night.
Best video moment of the evening: Clark Schmidtke's response to my question about repealing the excise tax refund before TransCanada builds the Keystone XL pipeline. Fast-forward to 8:55 and see Schmidtke show the passion for fairness, good fiscal sense, and the general welfare of his fellow South Dakotans that proves to me he's the right man for State Senate:
Best short answer of the evening: Republican Patricia Stricherz follows Schmidtke and says, "I concur." As should we all!
More commentary coming... but I welcome your comments first! Watch the videos, then submit your comments here and on the Madville Times Youtube channel. Hooray for local TV!
Love the videos, however I'm going to toss some change in the tip jar so you can get an external microphone for your Kodak!
ReplyDeleteAgreed -- I could use better audio! The candidates were a bit far from the mic... but I could a good 20-foot boom! Or maybe just a little mini-stadium mic with one of those collector dishes around it... or just a complete Al Franken global mobile unit!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the coverage. I threw a little in for the microphone too (or whatever else you'd like to use it for).
ReplyDeleteI think I was most impressed with Scott Pedersen. When asked the question about what can be done for response time for rural Lake County residences - he took the time to turn around and ask if the residence had experienced any troubles personally. It did not feel that Pedersen was trying to make a any point by asking that question, but had general, honest concern about the question and wanted to do what he can to help the citizens that he serves.
I was surprised when the commission appointed Pedersen. I see now that they made the right choice. Scott, you've earned my vote.