Endorsments mean nothing

[qwerty]

The AFL-CIO has indrsed John Kerry for president. Here is a conversation I had with my father earlier --

ME: Dad, you are a member of the AFL-CIO, yes?

DAD: Yes.

ME: They have endorsed John Kerry, are you going to vote for him?

DAD: No.

[Lunar]

The AFL-CIO will be useful to Kerry as part of the gorund game (GOTV, etc.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I'm pretty sure Bill Clinton said he wouldn't endorse anyone in the primary.

[Keystone Phil]

Neither Hillary nor Bill Clinton endorsed during the primary but its pretty much known that the Clintons wanted Clark.

[zachman]

Endorsements can make a news story that focuses on that candidate. Organizational endorsement are somewhat useful in organizing.

[NHPolitico]

Tom Harkin and Al Gore endorsed Dean before Iowa, and Dean was soundly defeated.

Bill Clinton and Michael Moore endorsed Wesley Clark, and he was not nominated.

When did Bill Clinton endorse Wes Clark? I don't believe that ever happened.

Clinton only spoke favorably about Clark and his wife in regards to becoming president.

[MAS117]

First of all NixonNow, just cause your dad wont vote for JFK, that doesnt mean anything. Second of all, endorsements are free good air time that can only help ones campgain. As for Dean, Al Gore endorsed him and after that he did no campagining for him in Iowa, NH or anywhere, thats why that did nothing for him. Gore just was jumping on the bandwagon.

[awfernan2002]

Of course it's standard operating procedure for the AFL-CIO to back the Democratic nominee; the question is really one of how hard they will bust ass to assist him.  But given how many millions of people fall under that umbrella organization, of course it's not going to resonate on an individual level with many average voters.

Endorsements really are fairly meaningless, unless they buck a trend and tend to cluster toward one particular nominee (but even then it's probably a result of other factors favoring that nominee, rather than the other way around).  If Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter, and 46 congressional democrats switched over to support Bush for some insane reason, that would be a major development, but more than anything a reaction to voters preferring him in landslide fashion.

I wouldn't totally discount them in the primaries though.  Are they overrated? Sure.  But Kerry locked up a large number of important backers in Iowa and New Hampshire (many at the state representative level), that probably contributed to his win.

[??????????]

The thing that disturbs me about unions are that dues are used to support a particular political party. I do not feel comfortable doing that. I am a proud non-union member.

On a side note: I should stop buying Heinz ketchup which is made in Canada, huh?

[Defarge]

The endorsement of unions really only mean something during the primaries.  Otherwise, as has been said, it comes down to how much the unions want to support the Democratic candidate.  

If Gephardt get's the VP nomination, you'll see alot more union support than you would normally see, for example.