WHAT'S AN ENDORSEMENT WORTH?

posted by Michael Chihak

Colleague Andrea Kelly's blog posting on the endorsement by U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona of Mitt Romney for the GOP presidential nomination leads me to ask:

What's an endorsement worth?

For starters, Romney didn't return the favor by endorsing Flake in the U.S. Senate race in Arizona. Not yet.

Endorsement seekings are under way. To wit, Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann was in the state last week to meet with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to ask for his support.

Here are a couple of samples from recent history of the relative value of big-name political endorsements.

-- President Obama endorsed many a fellow Democrat who lost in last fall's mid-term elections, and he endorsed the Democrats who ultimately lost in a special U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts and last week's special U.S. House election in New York.

-- Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin endorsed more than three dozen "tea party" candidates in last fall's mid-term elections. Half of them won and half lost, including a U.S. Senate candidate in her home state of Alaska.