Endorsements

I'll admit, I almost never pay any attention to endorsements. To be completely frank, besides the endorsement from either the Republican or Democratic Party, I didn't realize there were so many organizations that divy out endorsements!

Yes, when I go through a candidates website, I'll glance at the page that they inevitably list their endorsements on, but the organizations that are listed there really don't push me one way or another when I make my final decision.

But to political candidates and the organizations that endorse, these decisions are much more important than I think anyone realized. Over the past few months, my husband has been receiving surveys from Political Action Commitiees (PACs) and endorsing organizations left and right. My husband filled them out as they came in, but certainly didn't have an "I have to get this endorsement" mentality. He knows where he stands on the issues, and since he's not a "politician," he didn't feel the need to give the answers that each organization wanted to hear just to get their endorsement.

I am know discovering that it's a good thing I didn't spend too much time paying attention to endorsements. While filling out surveys, my husband on a regular basis finds himself on the phone with someone from each PAC or organization. He has been told by more than one endorsing body that they only endorse incumbents. He has also been told that unless he or his opponent are a "shoe in" for the seat, they won't endorse.

With this being said, I've discovered that it's more important to follow the endorsements from election to election. When you see an endorsing body always endorse the incumbent, you know how they endorse. If you notice that an organization has previously endorsed a candidate and either pulls their endorsement all together or switches their endorsement to another candidate, this information will tell you more about how they feel than the actual endorsement. If an incumbent loses an endorsement, I guess this means they haven't lived up to the expectations of that organization.

So, once again, it's a game of politics. No one wants to appear to support a losing candidate. No one wants to look bad the day after the election. I suppose this means in the area of endorsements, I don't have to change how I have previously viewed them. I'll continue to glance at the information, but I won't change my opinion based on an endorsement.