Toward 2016 and Beyond, Our Endorsement Process

Contrary to what some may believe Caffeinated Thoughts has never endorsed a single candidate.  I personally have taken to this site to share my personal endorsement, but it has never been an endorsement on behalf of Caffeinated Thoughts.

In 2014 I decided to avoid making a public endorsement during the Republican primaries and Caffeinated Thoughts was silent.

I regret that decision for two primary reasons…

1. People accused me of endorsing this candidate or that candidate because I wrote a positive article for this one or took a selfie with that one so it would have been better to just be public about my choice.
2. It rubbed me the wrong way to see The Des Moines Register, The Cedar Rapids Gazette, etc. endorse in Republican primaries while we remained silent, but I made a commitment and so we were silent.

Starting in 2015, for the first time, Caffeinated Thoughts will offer a formal endorsement of a Republican candidate in the Iowa Caucus.  In 2016 we’ll weigh in on federal races, as well as, Iowa House and Senate races.  Then on to 2018 with the primary for the Republican nomination for Iowa Governor as it’s unlikely Iowa Governor Terry Branstad will run for a seventh term.

So it won’t be just me.  I will develop an editorial team consisting of me, Brian Myers and one to three others still to be determined.  Here is the criteria that we will follow:

• Only candidates who interview with Caffeinated Thoughts or Caffeinated Thoughts Radio will be seriously considered for an endorsement.  If a candidate doesn’t want to talk to us why would we want to consider them?
• Past endorsements by me, should those candidates run again, will not be considered.
• We will base our decision on our interviews, other interviews, debates, position statements, and campaign speeches and activity.
• Worldview and convictions will be considered first, positions on current issues second, and  viability as a candidate third.
• We will not endorse early during a race (we want to provide objective, independent reporting and build bridges with all the campaigns).
• Our decision will be prayerfully made and we will only endorse as a group if we are unanimous in our decision.  If we can’t reach a decision then everybody is free to make a personal endorsement if they so desire.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this for some time and have discussed this with a few others so I thought I’d announce our intentions to you as we launch into the 2016 election cycle.