Let's Be Honest About Endorsements

LBJ and RFK in Brooklyn, 1964.

Some endorsements matter. Some don't. I'm not sure how much endorsements matter to the public in a Presidential race, for instance. Sure, people would care if Barack Obama endorsed in the Presidential race tomorrow, or even Jimmy Carter, but do they care that some random freshman Senator did? Not really. The funny thing about that though, is that freshman Senator may matter a lot in the race, if they bring their campaign infrastructure and state-level donors to the race. That's the real value to these endorsements.

Then there's the opposite effect. Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano did not win on Tuesday in his quest for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. In fact, his numbers were mostly in line with his party's statewide numbers in this election, which weren't great. Judge Giordano did win the Lehigh Valley though, rather handily. He had the endorsement of most of the Bethlehem Democratic establishment, despite being a Republican. For the most part, they didn't raise money for him or do campaign events for him. Clearly though, their endorsements helped him in their area. Even though they didn't really bring their campaign structure to him, just their names mattered.

Endorsements are a funny thing, in that they don't overly matter most of the time. They aren't something that usually moves voters. Every once in a while they matter though. It's just hard to tell when that's going to be.