With friends like these....

Kay is awfully proud of her newspaper endorsement sweep. Her new ad is all about that.

When I have spoken to the Rick peeps I know about their abrupt announcement that they were not seeking any newspaper endorsements, Rick's peeps give off a sort of evil mastermind giggle and tell me that they are privy to some solid academic empirical research that shows newspaper endorsements in a Republican primary are actually counterproductive. They actually hurt you in a primary. They also told me that "Kay can't help herself. She will work for those endorsements, and they will work against her."

Is this justification? Was their preemptive strike at editorial boards when they said they would not sit for editorial board meetings just an acknowledgement that Rick would not win many of those endorsements, or was it part of some broader strategy that emphasizes social media and email and other peer to peer contact over trying to win over the media?

Because let's face it... Rick may have snubbed the newspaper editorial boards but from all indications they are still working the traditional press hard on stories and angles...

They may not always be getting reporters to write their spin, but from what I have observed and been told they are constantly planting ideas with reporters, briefing reporters, on the phone with reporters, offering reporters exclusives... just as Kay's team is doing...

I think Rick's peeps may be on to something, but only if the newspaper editorial boards write their endorsements in a way that emphasizes the things that Republican primary voters do not care for. If they write things about how Kay is the solid conservative leader... as many newspapers have done... then the strategy might not be all that smart. Then again a lot of the endorsements I have seen do praise Kay for things like expanding S-CHIP, working across the aisle, or for not "pandering" to the far right...

Take the SMU school newspaper as just the latest example (link). Excerpt follows...

In her long and distinguished career, Hutchison has proven herself a moderate willing to break ranks with her party. She calls herself pro-choice and believes that Roe v. Wade was the correct decision, although she supports a number of restrictions to abortion rights. During the health care debate, Hutchison opposed her party’s stall tactics. She’s also funneled hundreds of millions of dollars in appropriations to the state.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? Kay can still pick and choose the good quotes for her television and radio as she has already done, but in almost every endorsement I have seen there is a line or two that reveals why these editorial boards are really endorsing Kay...