Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Kay bashes Rick for not seeking liberal newspaper endorsements...

Kay is blasting Rick for not seeking newspaper endorsements... saying that she thinks Rick must have been scared she would have won them (link). Excerpt follows...

“I think it's arrogant for someone to say, ‘I don't need you,” Hutchison said in a meeting with the San Antonio Express-News Editorial Board. “He's got 10 years to answer for, and I think he ought to be willing to do it.”

Hutchison said she believes Perry, her chief rival in the March 2 Republican gubernatorial primary, was executing “a pre-emptive strike” with the move.

“I think he thought perhaps I would get more endorsements than he would,” she said. “I don't know that that's the case at all. I think the press has been fairly easy on him, and I haven't seen any signs that they've let up on me.”

Enrique Rangel explains why newspaper endorsements are not worth much (link). Excerpt follows...

A Nov. 7, 2007, article in the New York Times explained their usefulness this way: "A majority of endorsements are political popcorn, signifying little."

A survey the Washington-based Pew Research Center for People and the Press conducted the same year showed most Americans don't think an endorsement influences their vote.

For example, only 14 percent of the respondents said a newspaper endorsement has a positive influence while another 14 percent said it has a negative influence.

This brings us to Gov. Rick Perry, who is in a tough fight with U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison in the March 2 Republican primary.

As the Austin American-Statesman reported last week, Perry has decided not to meet with newspaper editorial boards to try to win their endorsements before the primary, a long-standing tradition among incumbents, challengers and candidates vying for an open seat.

A good number of commentators interpreted Perry's decision as telling all major newspapers in the state, including the Amarillo Globe-News, that he does not care whether they endorse him or not, as most have done in previous elections.

I bet that newspapers in Republican primaries are considered an actual negative... and a big one...

Rick is smart to marginalize newspapers by not seeking their endorsements... all while courting bloggers in an aggressive yet low pressure way... he gets it. Is he pushing for 2012 with this strategy? I don't know. His peeps tell me no... adamantly... almost too adamantly.

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Hey now, campaign characters. Be nice. I know a lot of you on both sides, so I don't want any overly foul language, personal attacks on anyone other than the candidates themselves, or other party fouls. I will moderate the heck out of you if you start breaking the bounds of civility.