Grass Roots Organization, Leadership, public relations • September 16th, 2008

The case of the phantom endorsements

by Chris Lato

Yikes. This is a mess that just keeps getting messier.

Regardless of who originally screwed up, it’s time for Daniel Knodl to give up on this whole endorsement thing. It is doing him no favors and has even tripped him up post-primary. It dings Knodl’s credibility and it’s a PR mess that didn’t have to happen. It makes him look like he can’t manage a campaign – not good when running for office.

Time to come out, admit mistakes were made, take full responsibility and whatever punishment may come from that, and get back to knocking on doors and talking about issues. This never should have happened in the first place, but it’s time now for Mr. Knodl to cut bait, already.

And let this be a lesson to all candidates – when seeking endorsements, do one simple thing:

Get an endorsement pledge in writing. Maybe draft a form letter and have the endorser sign it. That way, you have something on file in case the endorser flakes out for whatever reason.

In addition, make sure the endorser understands the endorsement will be made public – on the internet, lit, direct mail, whatever. Include it as part of the endorsement pledge. That’s part of the deal when you get an endorsement – it doesn’t do much good if you can’t tell others about it.

Don’t assume that because someone says they support you, that they have given you approval to slap their name all over your campaign material. It sounds like Knodl made this mistake.

As the saying goes - endorsements, like yard signs, don’t vote. However, I understand the value.  They can lend a candidate some credibility. Tommy Thompson, for example, is trotted out regularly to support GOP candidates. And when an incumbent is stepping down, his or her endorsement is prized by those looking to take over.

But endorsements, in and of themselves, are not the most important part of an average campaign. And in this case, endorsements (or the lack thereof) can do serious damage.

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