The endorsements games [View all]

We watched with awe how with a magic wand he ended the political careers of loyal, reliable Republicans. We have read here descriptions about voters who were not even sure why they were voting the way they did, except that the emperor said so.

And.... I could not help comparing this to our own endorsements game.

Four years ago there were six candidates for Hennepin county sheriff and about four, I think, for the county attorney.

The strib, that used to endorse candidates did so. Endorsed two alternatives for each office, not the ones the party endorsed.

The local neighborhood paper had a series of questions submitted to all the candidates and I remember taking my time to read all. Also watched part of a debate.

The final winners? Why, the ones endorsed by the party.

I admit, I felt foolish. Why bother studying the candidates if it was obvious that many voters just followed the party endorsements.

The primaries used to take place in September and when they were moved to August many - the strib - objected. Many are on vacation, they said, out of town, enjoying the summer who really would not care about voting. So they do not. Just follow the endorsements.

I may be exaggerating. In our first years in Minnesota we were not aware of the existence of primaries. Why, because candidates who vowed to "abide by the party" dropped out. The primaries were really just rubber stamps for the endorsed candidates. Only after I registered to be a delegate to the county convention that I was getting phone calls and flyers about candidates.

I was glad that Dayton first, and then Walz and perhaps others chose to stay in the race and.. won.

Oh well..