One of the rituals of the political campaign season is the newspaper endorsement.
This past weekend, the liberal-leaning editorial page of The Detroit Free Press – also the state’s largest newspaper -- caused some head-scratching and tongue-wagging with its endorsement in the governor’s race.
The Michigan Public Radio Network’s Rick Pluta explains.
The Free Press editorial page had pretty much stuck with the Democratic ticket in this election cycle. That is until this past Sunday, when it endorsed Republican Governor Rick Snyder for reelection. It’s not the first time, certainly, that the Free Press has endorsed a Republican, or even a Republican for governor. What got a lot of political types talking was that the endorsement was so tepid, and downright indicting of Snyder at times.
Stephen Henderson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and opinion page editor for the Free Press.
“I think people probably were a bit surprised given the deep disagreements we’ve had with the governor over the past four years, some of them have been epic in scale and intensity,” he says.
The paper has lobbed some pretty serious criticism the governor’s way, and said in its endorsement that Snyder has caved too easily to the more radical elements of the Republican Party and flat-out broke his word when it comes to transparency and open government.
“At the same time, endorsements are comparable analyses,” he says. “They’re not about just one person, but the two choices.”
And the roughly 2,000-word endorsement essay was not too gentle on Mark Schauer. The editorial complained the Democratic nominee shared the paper’s values, but failed to articulate a plan for accomplishing his goals.
“Among many liberals, I think, there was rage,” he says.
Joe DiSano is a Democratic political consultant, who says progressives felt betrayed by the paper, especially in a race that is by many measures, quite close.
“I think others kind of saw the hand-writing on the wall coming,” he says. “Other people really just didn’t care – like myself. I’ve made the conclusion that newspaper endorsements really don’t matter.”
Michael Traugott is a political science professor at the University of Michigan.
“By the time the endorsements appear, which is usually late in the campaign, the people who are most likely to vote have made up their mind,” he says. “And the people who could be influenced by an endorsement don’t usually participate in elections.”
And that’s even more true in a low-turnout election like this year’s mid-terms. Traugott also says that even though, newspapers’ circulation and influence have declined, the reasoning behind endorsements can give voters some things to think about. Especially, when a newspaper does something unexpected.
Free Press editor Stephen Henderson says, despite his editorial board’s reservations about both candidates, not making an endorsement was never a serious option.
“There’s no none-of-the-above on the ballot,” he says.
Henderson says voters have to make a choice if they’re going to participate in the democratic process, and that’s what his editorial board did.