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When the endorsement fight is just plain silly

In writing a story this week about the behind-the-scenes jockeying for Democratic endorsements in the 6th District, I briefly conceded that individual endorsements mean relatively little in this primary. For the purposes of this blog post, I’m going to go further and say that, in some instances, individual endorsements mean practically nothing.

Consider the case of Robin Lucas, a local committeewoman in Berks County. Last week, Manan Trivedi’s campaign included her on a list of party insiders who had endorsed him. But on Thursday, in announcing financial support from another labor union, Doug Pike’s campaign said that, no, Lucas had endorsed him.

“I’m proud and happy to endorse Doug Pike for Congress,” Lucas was quoted as saying in a campaign statement. “Doug is a real gentleman when it comes to politics; he plays by the rules and tells the truth. I never endorsed anyone else in this race and was disappointed that Manan’s campaign claimed otherwise. Although Manan is a friend, I’ve never even received a formal endorsement request from him.”

What to do, what to do?

Well, for starters, I spoke Lucas herself a couple times Thursday afternoon. Long story, short: She likes both candidates, would love to endorse them both if she could, and is effectively neutral in this race but seems to be leaning toward Pike, who she’s known longer than Trivedi.

Long story, long: She told a Trivedi campaign staffer that she’d be happy to endorse him. Later, she signed a formal endorsement letter for Pike. She was immediately uncomfortable with the harsher statements about Trivedi that were attributed to her Thursday, and what ensued was ridiculous back-channel lobbying from both campaigns, all as I was trying to get to the bottom of it.

Let’s be clear. Lucas seems to be nothing but kind, perhaps to a fault. She doesn’t want to upset anyone, and even stopped once to ask me if she could endorse both candidates. It’s not my place to tell her or anyone else what to do, as I told her. But alas, endorsing both candidates in a primary is the functional equivalent of endorsing neither, hence staying neutral.

“I’m in a bad situation,” she lamented to me.

By the end of our second conversation, she seemed willing to stick to the first part of her published statement lauding Pike, provided it went without the subsequent jabs at Trivedi. Both campaigns thought they understood her correctly the first, second and third times they spoke. This is often the impression left by well-intentioned people who wish to please. As one campaign insider allowed, she’s just a “good Democrat.”

So what have we learned? Not much, except that this primary is indeed fraying some bonds and causing some tensions within Democratic circles. Oh, and sometimes, endorsements truly mean nothing. For my part, I’m considering Lucas to be neutral in this race. That labor support for Pike that was overshadowed by this whole thing? The National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

Again, it’s not my place to tell anyone what to do, let alone the candidates I’m covering. But I’ll do it anyway. My advice? Don’t bother listing Lucas as a supporter, either of you.

Oh, and I like one other thing Lucas said in reference to both candidates.

“You boys are fighting like children again. What difference does it make what a five-foot-two woman says?”

December 17, 2009 at 11:00 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Doug Pike, Manan Trivedi, PA-6

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