Ringing endorsements for Obama
Updated on 20 October 2008
Felicity Spector asks just how important are big-name endorsements at this stage of a US presidential campaign.
So Barack Obama says he's "humbled" to get the endorsement of Colin Powell, John McCain proclaimed himself unsurprised pointing out he had the backing of 'more than 400 retired admirals and generals'. But how important are big-name endorsements at this stage of a campaign?
Conventional wisdom has it that they tend to reinforce what voters already like (or dislike) about a candidate, rather than change their minds.
But Colin Powell has the potential to offer more: he's another powerful symbol of the post-racial American dream and, of course, can offer backing from the other side of the partisan aisle.
Look at the polls and Powell is rated pretty highly among independent voters and of course, he's positively dripping with military credibility.
That's why the former White House aide for Presidents of both sides, David Gergen, called this "the most important endorsement of the campaign".
That's why the former White House aide for Presidents of both sides, David Gergen, called this "the most important endorsement of the campaign" and Newt Gingrich admitted that it pretty much wiped out the whole inexperience issue around Obama.
Back in August, a Fox News survey found that Powell's backing would make twice as many people more rather than less likely to vote for Obama.
More than that, as the leading Democratic strategist Donna Brazile pointed out "it says that he wants to govern in a different way - different than, say, past administrations where you relied on just his base or his party. ... It says that he's going to reach across the aisle."
But how influential are the big name endorsements anyway? Back in the early days of the campaign Obama was making headlines for attracting A-listers from Oprah Winfrey to Robert DeNiro.
The big Hollywood money doubtless came in handy, as did the publicity they generated. And the likes of the Black Eyed Peas helped Obama corner the market in cool, not that John McCain was much of a match.
But the campaign teams will have devoted a lot more of their time to winning over far more prosaic endorsements, starting with names that voters really trust.
But the campaign teams will have devoted a lot more of their time to winning over far more prosaic endorsements, starting with names that voters really trust: local papers, and local community groups. And here, the figures show Obama storming ahead.
Editor and Publisher has found a landslide of local papers coming out for the Democrat: the latest, right in the heart of Texas - Houston and Austin - which both formerly backed President Bush.
In fact, says the magazine, 103 papers have endorsed Obama, compared to just 32 for McCain: the big name papers in almost every major city, with some 25 papers switching sides to back him in this race.
In his home city of Chicago, he's been endorsed by the Tribune - the first time it's backed a Democrat in its 161 year history.
The polls suggest an Obama landslide: experience suggests there's nothing inevitable about THAT. John McCain says he much prefers being the underdog: but there's just 15 days for him to bounce back. And thanks to Colin Powell's intervention, another October surprise has slapped him right in the face.
