Endorsement Check

Candidates seek endorsements for three reasons: money, manpower and credibility.

by Anonymous


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Published: Apr 18, 2007

You hear a lot about them from the mayoral candidates, and you're only going to hear more as the campaign winds into its waning days. They're endorsements. As in, so-and-so got endorsed by this union or that union. Or, such-and-such civic group is speaking up for candidate A while candidate B got the backing of a big-time politician.

Still to come, however, are the supposedly big-ticket endorsements of the two daily newspapers and the major minority outlets.

But what do they really mean? How does a candidate get them? Which do they want? And, how do they use them to their advantage? Well, candidates seek endorsements for three reasons: money, manpower and credibility.

Endorsements, particularly from unions, often come with the promise of a campaign donation. Under the old financing rules, some union endorsements came with a six-figure check; but even today, with every campaign laboring under the new campaign finance restrictions, every last check helps. Other endorsements come with the promise of fundraising help, if not direct aid. Usually, the endorsing group will send out a letter to its members or host a fundraising event.

Winning an endorsement can also bring the promise of manpower to help get out the vote on election day. This is where earning union endorsements is especially important: Any election day help, no matter how much it costs, does not count against the fundraising limits. But even some smaller groups — like Liberty City — are extremely helpful at working the polls for their preferred candidates.

The final reason to seek an endorsement is the credibility it gives a candidate among the voters. It is easier for many voters to make connection with a candidate if someone else they know and respect is backing him; it basically becomes the Good Housekeeping seal of approval.

So, how does a candidate get one of these important endorsements? The first and most obvious way is to have been a longtime supporter of whatever issue(s) the endorsing group cares about.

Oppose free trade and support an increase in the minimum wage? Always easier to get a union endorsement. Longtime advocate for abortion rights? Check the box from Planned Parenthood and NARAL. Sponsored a bill to reduce pollution? Look for the League of Conservation Voters' backing.

But almost every endorsing group still requires completion of a candidate questionnaire before boosting a specific pol, regardless of track record. This is the opportunity for a candidate to detail how he would fulfill the entire wish list of the group, no matter what the cost or whether it conflicts with common sense. If the candidate has a long history with a group's issues or is willing to completely supplicate himself, he can win the endorsement.

Which endorsement a candidate wants depends on which group of voters he is trying to appeal to. In a year when crime is the central issue, every candidate would have wanted the backing of the police and District Attorney Lynne Abraham. Bob Brady got both of them.

While every group's backing is important at some level because every group has a constituency, the most important are that of the daily newspapers: If a candidate wins the backing of one of them — according to conventional wisdom — it must mean that the candidate is truly the most qualified. (For the record, City Paper will endorse a mayoral candidate in the May 3 issue.)

Once the backing of an influential group is won, a candidate touts it as often and as widely as possible. The backing could end up in television and radio ads, on pieces of lit and direct mail and on billboards.

A candidate will do everything short of shouting endorsements from the rooftops. After all, what's the point of having support if you can't tell anyone about it?

(editorial@citypaper.net)

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