The Precinct Project: How YOU can help take back your government!

[lkaneshiki]

Also, it is not a matter of whether or not it is "possible" to win an election if you don't get the party's endorsement; it is a matter of whether or not it is good policy and if it is fair.

[lkaneshiki]

Dan, no one said that endorsed candidates "automatically" get elected. But it is obvious that it makes it very very difficult for a candidate to run against their own party when the party is backing them before the Primary election. Also, county committee leaders are threatened to have voter vault privileges taken away if they even invite a non-endorsed candidate to any of their functions after the endorsement.

[dansullivan0]

It is also untrue that endorsed candidates get elected automatically. In Pittsburgh, essentially a one-party city, not one of the five endorsed candidates for City Council was elected in the 2011 race. A strong, issues-oriented committee whose members interact with the public all year long, and not just on election day, will gain public respect. Committee endorsements will once again matter, and they will give us better candidates than endorsements from money, the media, or incumbents.

[dansullivan0]

I believe focusing on committee races is fundamentally right, but that calling for committee people to not endorse candidates is fundamentally wrong. If voters elect committee people to examine the candidates and endorse, the influence of that endorsement is much more reliable than the influence of endorsements from higher ranking politicians, from newspapers, and from big-money interests.

[MyPalAndy]

Nice job. Where's part 2?