Political candidates and their spin doctors are quick to boast when they win endorsements from township party organizations.
But when they don’t get the endorsements, they cite chapter and verse about the endorsements’ declining significance.
So how important is a local party to a political wannabe?
The answer is a mixed bag.
Gone are the days when candidates were virtually guaranteed victory in the townships where they won endorsements, political experts say. While loyal party minions can and do still deliver votes in some townships, their effectiveness has declined thanks to direct mail, voter independence and an increasingly transient populace.
“Fifteen years ago, on a scale of 1 to 10, an endorsement was worth a 9,” said Don Totten, Schaumburg Township Republican Committeeman. “Today, it’s probably worth a 7. It’s not of the utmost importance like it used to be.”
Even so, Phil Crane, the incumbent congressman from Wauconda who is battling three opponents in the Republican primary race, is counting on Totten and his precinct captains to deliver votes.
The crowded field of candidates in the 8th Congressional District primary race has prompted some upsets in the endorsement game.
Crane won the endorsement in Schaumburg, but he was upset in neighboring Wheeling and Hanover Townships by freshman state Sen. Peter Fitzgerald.
Fitzgerald, an Inverness banker, also dealt a blow to the incumbent by preventing Crane from winning the Palatine Township endorsement. Palatine Township was the first and only township to endorse Crane when he first ran for office in 1969.
Crane held his own in Lake County, winning the county party endorsement and nearly all the township ones, including the townships of Antioch, Newport, Wauconda, Cuba and Ela.
Meanwhile, Crane challengers Gary Skoien and Judy Svenson, who haven’t won any township endorsements, insist that they’re still viable candidates.
Skoien, a Palatine businessman, points to the fact that he won 45 percent of the popular vote two years ago when he challenged Crane, and he did so without any endorsements.
Svenson, a lawyer from Barrington, said she knew from the start she wouldn’t win regular party support.
“These people aren’t my constituents,” she said of the party regulars. “Precinct captains affix little packets to people’s doors. My volunteers will go door to door, too, handing out literature.”
Voters today are less inclined to ally themselves with party organizations, especially when the field is crowded.
“Voters are better informed today,” said state Sen. William Peterson (R-Long Grove), vice chairman of the Lake County Republican Party. “They read. They look at the newspaper endorsements, which they see as more objective evaluators.”
“The bottom line is, all things being equal, it’s better to be endorsed,” said Paul Green, a political science professor at Governors State University in University Park. “It gives you momentum to help raise money. But as parties have declined over the last 30 years, endorsements haven’t carried through in guaranteeing nominations.”
