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Endorsements are a complicated procedure
The primary election was just conducted but we can’t take any time off to celebrate our hard work.
Preparation for the general election in November must begin immediately. One of the many tasks that The Oakland Press Opinion Page must prepare for is the endorsement of candidates and ballot issues.
Logistically, we can’t endorse in every race. There are too many races and too many candidates. The traditional procedure is to first decide in which races we will endorse a candidate. We usually select the more heated, tightly contested races because they are often harder to call and the readers seem to value our opinion, even if they don’t agree with it. Candidates who are running unopposed or in races that appear to be easy to call normally don’t need our endorsement and we don’t have time to endorse in every race.
We’ll decide shortly what races we will be endorsing in. The next step is to schedule appointments with the candidates. It may be convenient and time-saving to schedule at the same time those running against each other in the same race. But experience has taught us that this can be a scheduling nightmare. So, we try to find mutually convenient times for the endorsement interviews. After all of the interviews are conducted, the Editorial Board will compare notes and decide which candidates we will endorse.
Our deadline is not Nov. 2, the general election day. Most people want to know well ahead of time who The Oakland Press is backing. So we try to run the endorsement editorials no later than a week before the election. The size of the editorials will vary. In some cases, we’ll endorse in two or three or more races in the same editorial. For example, we may decide to run all our Congressional endorsements in one editorial. On the other hand, we will have an editorial about just one race, mostly the more contested or major races. For example, we’ll probably use one editorial to endorse a gubernatorial candidate.
The endorsement process is complicated and time consuming, so we can’t dawdle. But in the final analysis, remember that endorsements are an opinion, one that is made after considerable discussion and analysis but still an opinion.
Preparation for the general election in November must begin immediately. One of the many tasks that The Oakland Press Opinion Page must prepare for is the endorsement of candidates and ballot issues.
Logistically, we can’t endorse in every race. There are too many races and too many candidates. The traditional procedure is to first decide in which races we will endorse a candidate. We usually select the more heated, tightly contested races because they are often harder to call and the readers seem to value our opinion, even if they don’t agree with it. Candidates who are running unopposed or in races that appear to be easy to call normally don’t need our endorsement and we don’t have time to endorse in every race.
We’ll decide shortly what races we will be endorsing in. The next step is to schedule appointments with the candidates. It may be convenient and time-saving to schedule at the same time those running against each other in the same race. But experience has taught us that this can be a scheduling nightmare. So, we try to find mutually convenient times for the endorsement interviews. After all of the interviews are conducted, the Editorial Board will compare notes and decide which candidates we will endorse.
Our deadline is not Nov. 2, the general election day. Most people want to know well ahead of time who The Oakland Press is backing. So we try to run the endorsement editorials no later than a week before the election. The size of the editorials will vary. In some cases, we’ll endorse in two or three or more races in the same editorial. For example, we may decide to run all our Congressional endorsements in one editorial. On the other hand, we will have an editorial about just one race, mostly the more contested or major races. For example, we’ll probably use one editorial to endorse a gubernatorial candidate.
The endorsement process is complicated and time consuming, so we can’t dawdle. But in the final analysis, remember that endorsements are an opinion, one that is made after considerable discussion and analysis but still an opinion.
posted by Allan Adler at
11:25 AM
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