Who Benefits From Endorsements? Sometimes The Endorser

The "bandwagon effect" is a political term that describes voters who get on board with a candidate because the candidate "looks like a winner."

Iowa just experienced the ultimate bandwagon effect when the state chair of the Bachmann effort announced his jump to Ron Paul's campaign. 

State Senator Kent Sorenson:

“The fact of the matter is that I believe we have a clear, top-tier race between Romney and Ron Paul.”

The Bachmann campaign fired back by alleging that Sorenson had been offered money by the Paul campaign. THIS allegation follows the assertion that Bob Vander Plaats asked for money to promote his endorsement of Rick Santorum.

So who do endorsements help? If the endorser is someone I truly respect (and you've often seen the names of these folks on this blog), it does cause me to give their candidate a serious look.

But Iowans are finally getting wind of another aspect of the endorsement game: sometimes endorsements aren't based on principle, but on promises of money and/or power.

I know plenty of young political operatives who continually try to hitch their wagon to a rising star in hopes of elevating their own status. 

Conservatives are often at odds with a liberally-biased media, but these kind of reports do shine a light on an unpleasant aspect of the political process.