When you come into a tournament like this as a 16 seed, you don’t have high expectations for moving on. State Rep. Grant Hodges shocked the world, however, taking out tourney favorite Tom Cotton in the first round. For that, we will always remember him.[footnote]Or, you know, we’ll remember him for an extra day or two at least.[/footnote]
Hodges’ win, however, was great news for State Rep. Rebecca Petty. While she might have folded against Tom Cotton, who I have no doubt loves the death penalty almost as much as Petty does, Hodges presented a much easier matchup for Petty. To Hodges’ credit, he kept it close for the first half, echoing Petty’s points and basically emulating her “all platitudes, no substance” style of play. Late in the game, though, in a weird twist that most people found absurd, Petty simply started borrowing points from Hodges rather that trying to score her own. Somehow, this worked, and Petty moved on.