July 19, 2010 07:22 PM UTC

Do primary endorsements matter? Sen. Bennet endorsed by larger Colo. newspaper, everyone yawns.

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• by: Automaticftp

One of Colorado’s larger newspapers endorsed Sen. Michael Bennet in dhe Democratic primary yesterday.  The endorsement said, in essence, that Sen. Bennet was the more skilled of the Democratic candidates and has more real world experience.  

The reaction to the newspaper’s endorsement so far appears to be a yawn.  While Sen. Bennet’s campaign promoted the endorsement, and his challenger dismissed it, so far it appears to have generated little discussion or interest.  To be sure, many of the people who closely follow Colorado politics have been following the implosion of Scott McInnis’s campaign for governor, but the lack of reaction is notable.  

The challenger doesn’t mention Sen. Bennet’s endorsement at all, although some of his supporters have been active on social media sites, actively denigrating Sen. Bennet, as opposed to the endorsement itself.  

The lack of reaction leads to the question-does an endorsement from a large newspaper matter in a primary?  Or is the Democratic Senate primary effectively already over, and the large newspaper wants to maximize its chances of getting some ad revenue?  Do primary voters care if a candidate is endorsed by a newspaper any longer?  Endorsements used to be seen as important, but they appear to be less and less valuable.

Thoughts?