Who is telling you how to vote?

Don't be fooled by the TV ad spokesman for either U.S. Senator Mark Pryor or Congressman Tom Cotton.

Their hand-picked TV ad spokesmen were not picked by random. It is all Madison Avenue's TV glitz and glamour at its best.

Sure that's Tom Cotton's mom and dad in the ads. And expect to hear from David and Barbara Pryor soon. These ads were all very scripted and set in the exacting background to target voters.

It is all a science.

A Mad Science that is driving me crazy. How about you?

How many ads can these two put on air between now and Nov. 4? I guess as many as they have campaign donations to spend. Add in those legions of outsiders on both political sides that have money to buy as well.

But are we electing our next United States Senator (insert Congressman, Governor, Lt. Governor and every office down the line) the correct way?

As Arkansans, watching the U.S. Senate free-for-all between incumbent Senator Mark Pryor and Congressman Tom Cotton, we need to ask ourselves one over-riding question before November 4.

Are we allowing the manipulation of past voting records to be the reason to elect or not elect a future U.S. Senator for our state?

How about from now until Election Day, we ask each of these gentlemen as they stump across our state just what they are going to do about making things better -- not only in Washington D.C., but also back here at home.

Isn't that why we send four Congressmen and two United States Senators from this tiny, rural state to Washington? To take care of things back here at home?

This past month, two very glaring announcements of 750 jobs leaving Northwest Arkansas seem not to be on either of their collective political radars. And that is a shame.

There was nary a peep out of the Pryor or Cotton political camps.

Messrs. Pryor and Cotton have been too busy focusing on each other's pitiful past voting records, rather than looking at the present, or how to help with the future.

So what do we expect from our candidates?

Well, in Arkansas we expect some sense of loss.

Yes and we expect a U.S. Senator or even a challenging U.S. Congressman -- even in the midst of a spirited political race -- to have some words of compassion and hope for the working men and women who lost their jobs.

We saw neither recently.

All we see is a barrage of Jerry and Wanda of Marion bemoaning their getting an insurance cancellation letter last year. Jerry, like me, is a little round in the belly. He should be concerned about his insurance and his health. Wanda looks right at the camera and sadly says the words of a politician should be his bond. Well, Wanda welcome to the 21st Century.

The fact that Congressman Cotton voted time after time against funding Arkansas Children's Hospital is indeed disturbing. He was under orders from the Koch Brothers who are backing his campaign from far away from this state. So, no his actions did not surprise me.

No matter who you are favoring in this race, surely we are all growing tired of the baseless barrage of TV and print advertisement bashing one another over voting for or against a bill that is now either a law, or a clump of paper sitting in a recycling bin.

We need to hear more of what they are going to do in the future and less crowing or cowering from their past.

MAYLON RICE, A FORMER JOURNALIST HAVING WRITTEN BOTH NEWS AND COLUMNS FOR SEVERAL NWA PUBLICATIONS, HAS WRITTEN FOR THE ENTERPRISE-LEADER FOR SEVERAL YEARS.