Meaningless Endorsements

From the Palm Beach Post-

As Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama pile up endorsements from local elected Dems, freshman U.S. Rep. Tim Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, remains conspicuously unattached.

Mahoney, whose eight-county district has more registered R's than D's, says he - and his constituents - are waiting to be impressed.

"When I look at my district, I haven't seen anybody make a compelling case that's going to get people in my district excited. I haven't seen that in either party," Mahoney says. He says he's talked to Obama, Clinton and Sen. Chris Dodd about their presidential campaigns and to operatives for Sen. Joe Biden and "two Americas" decrier John Edwards.

Mahoney, elected with a slender 49.5 percent last year in the aftermath of the Mark Foley scandal, is one of the national GOP's top targets for defeat in 2008. The other local freshman Dem who represents a swing congressional district, Rep. Ron Klein of Boca Raton, hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate either.

Does the endorsement or lack of endorsement from matter to your average voter? To me, I could care less though I'm sure it matters to some people and can be used for fundraising purposes. To me I rather make the decision on who is the best candidate in any race, rather than rely on the judgment of others.

That Mahoney and Klein haven't endorsed anyone for the 2008 Presidential race, matters absolutely nothing to me.(I'm a registered Democrat and at the moment I'm leaning to Bill Richardson, even if I gave him a Knucklehead award once. Then I also gave ones to all the other leading Democratic candidates also at some time in the past too. How's that for endorsements?) Either of them could endorse a half Albanian, half Martian green lesbian female with two heads whose mother crashed at Roswell in 2008, and I'd shrug my shoulders. On second thought I'd probably make it big news on my blog first.

Note- I will admit endorsements can have some use. Like when Governor Crist recently had to fill a seat on the Palm Beach County Commission. In that case I'm glad the Governor didn't listen to local officials.

Linked- Bright & Early, Bullwinkle, DragonLady, High Desert Wanderer,