Dale Peterson, the gun-toting Alabamian who lost his 2010 state agriculture commissioner race but became a YouTube celeb in the process, is going back on the campaign trail in the Yellowhammer State, The Daily Caller has learned.
This time, the Republican straight-talker won’t be on the ballot. His wife will.
“What we’re able to do here — big guy — is everyone in the state knows her as well as me,” Peterson told TheDC in an interview Friday.
Peterson’s spouse, Kathy, is running on the GOP ticket for president of the Alabama Public Service Commission — the only statewide office currently held by a Democrat. Although she managed her husband’s campaign in 2010, Kathy has never run for office herself.
The Public Service Commission regulates utility companies in the state.
Dale Peterson has parlayed fame from his unorthodox campaign videos into speaking opportunities at political events. In one such appearance this year, he endorsed presidential candidate Herman Cain.
“I’ve never seen so many thugs and criminals all my life,” Peterson told TheDC, renewing one of his well-known campaign lines about the need for new blood in government. “It’s the only thing I know that is consistent.”
Peterson, who said he doesn’t have a formal campaign title but will campaign everywhere with his wife, said people in the Alabama Republican Party initially asked him to consider running. While he wasn’t interested, his wife was — and Dale says she is more qualified for the office than he is.
Peterson said he isn’t sure if his wife will produce videos similar to his, but she’s already striking a familiar tone.
“It’s time to say ‘no’ to political ladder climbers, office hoppers and career politicians,” Kathy Peterson said in a recent email to supporters.
