It's endorsement time; that point in the campaign cycle when organizations and special interests will come out with grand pronouncements meant to make it sound like they're throwing their weight into the mix so as to influence the outcome of the elections.
Usually, these endorsements are so blah. All they really do is state the obvious -- groups picking the candidate that we could all predict they would support. Reinforcing the idea that about 93 percent of the electorate knew back in March who they were going to vote for come Nov. 4.
THE PAST FEW months have been about nothing more than influencing the remaining 7 percent; and hoping they can scare enough of them into NOT voting so that their existing support can be large enough to actually win come Election Day.
Just as in two of the endorsements made Friday in the campaign for Illinois governor. Surprise, surprise!!
The National Federation for Independent Business is backing Republican Bruce Rauner, just as they typically back Republican candidates for competitive offices.
While the Chicago Chicago Teachers Union says it supports Gov. Pat Quinn for re-election.
CONSIDERING HOW THE organized labor interests have made it clear since back before the primary election how much they despised the concept of Rauner as governor, it is no wonder they're going to side with Quinn.
My point in writing this is to say I don't expect anybody to be swayed by these endorsements. They will get people who already made up their minds to get off their duffs and actually cast ballots for governor, and whichever other offices they choose to take a stance on.
Considering that I stumbled across a weblog earlier Friday where someone wrote about how she's refusing to vote for either Quinn or Rauner (too much baggage for Quinn and running mate Paul Vallas, and Rauner is just too unacceptable to be a credible alternative), there could be a very real possibility of the people who choose not to vote this year influencing the election.
So everybody wants to ensure that the predictable voters do turn out in force.
OTHERWISE, IT BECOMES just a great big yawn that we're going to endure in coming weeks when group after group makes their predictable stances known. It will be news if someone chooses to endorse nobody. But I don't really expect that to happen much.
Because all these endorsements really amount to is groups making a public statement now so that, if by chance their preferred candidate wins and takes office come mid-January, they'll be in line to start making their demands of what they want from government in the future.
Which means that the legendary newspaper columnist Mike Royko probably had it right when he came up with a Chicago city motto, only that perhaps it should be extended to all governments.
As in, "Where's Mine?"
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