Plea to All Candidates in Every Election Ever

Grace O'Malley · Post by **Grace O'Malley** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 5:48 pm

Bryan

Although you may not personally look at endorsements, you'd probably be surprised at the number of people who DO.

For example, most unions send out mailings with their endorsed candidates for office and judgeships. I know for a fact that many union members DO look to these endorsements and use them in their decision making.

Remember, Lakewood is primarily a blue collar town, although many refuse to admit it.

Many of these blue collar residents are union members.

While the demographic of the Deck might lead you to believe that the voter ignores endorsements, it would be foolish to underestimate their effect.

Bryan Schwegler · Post by **Bryan Schwegler** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:10 pm

Grace,
I'm sure they do mean something to the targeted groups. However, to a broad cross-section of the public, I would venture to guess that endorsements are one of the least important factors in their decision.

For example Mike Summers had more votes in Ward 3 than the other candidates combined. He did not have the endorsements.

Fitzgerald easily trounced George in the primary, he did not have the endorsements.

Bullock won in Ward 2, he did not have the endorsements.

I guess my point is that over stating the importance of an endorsement to the average voter is also dangerous.

I would venture to say that it's the candidate's plan and message, their ability to connect with the voter that wins the votes. That candidate may or may not have a certain endorsement, for better or worse, I don't think the average voter notices.

sharon kinsella · Post by **sharon kinsella** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 6:17 pm

No, Bryan, what truly is dangerous, and I'm not faulting you for this, is most people believing the trumped up hype created by slick PR people. Don't let them fool you.

Oh and Bullock started working on his campaign before the beginning of 2007 and Shields didn't start until August. Bullock won by an underwhelming 34 votes. That just might tell you something.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:24 pm

Grace O'Malley wrote:Bryan

Although you may not personally look at endorsements, you'd probably be surprised at the number of people who DO.

Grace, you're absolutely right, and I guess that's a big part of what discourages me.

I moved into Lakewood about 6 months after the last mayoral election. I love Lakewood, and hope to buy a home and stay here, so I really wanted to be an informed voter.

The first flyer I got from a candidate listed how active he was in his party, how many endorsements he had from various levels of his party, and how proud he was to be in his party. But none of that was helpful to me.

I actually stumbled across and registered for the Observation Deck because I was desperate from some real info. The Deck has provided me with a lot of great Lakewood content, but also a lot of meaningless political name-calling, which spurred me to start this thread.

I hate getting the party flyer of whom and what I should vote for based on my affiliation. But I hate even more how necessary that is for so many uninformed voters. I don't know what the answer is -- I suspect there isn't one. You can't make people care more about issues than parties.

Brad Hutchison · Post by **Brad Hutchison** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:29 pm

sharon kinsella wrote: Joe D'Angelo is a VP of the club, he was the only one there from the ward,(Mike Summers didn't come to the meeting) who was a democrat so he got it...

...Those of us who have been active in the club have known and worked with these people for a while. Our votes were determined by the quality of the candidate.

Isn't this contradictory? Is this supposed to make me have more faith in endorsements?

sharon kinsella · Post by **sharon kinsella** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:32 pm

A little yes a little no.

Mike Summers might have gotten it if he had been there.

Two people who were there for other seats did not.

Is Joe better than Mike? I don't know.

I do know the candidates in the Ward 2 race and I know the mayoral candidates, and I sincerely feel that in those two cases the right people got the endorsements.

Shawn Juris · Post by **Shawn Juris** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:40 pm

Sharon,
I think that it may serve your choice of candidates well if you adopt the same approach that Bill Call has. Unless of course this is a double agent approach and you are trying to lead voters to vote the opposite way???

sharon kinsella · Post by **sharon kinsella** » Mon Oct 15, 2007 10:50 pm

Wow - I would be the fattest Matahari on record, or I could be Natasha without a Boris.

I'm not try to lead anyone anywhere, just trying to let folks know what's going on. I am not a powerful person, just an old time radical who has been around the block a couple million times.

I think I like the name Natasha best.