Endorsement can matter - a personal testimony

I will confess to being influenced by an endorsement four years ago. I come from a strong Republican family and had worked as a legislative assistant for the Republicans in the Ohio State Senate and had always voted Republican in presidential elections up until 2004. By 2004 I had become disillusioned with the unilateralist approach Bush had taken to foreign policy but still thought of myself as a good Republican. When asked about my politics, I would often describe myself as an Eisenhower Republican meaning that I was a fiscal conservative but one who valued professionalism over ideology. I was generally more liberal in most areas of social policy and a strong internationalist in foreign policy. I was undecided about which way to go in 2004 until reading a strong endorsement for Kerry written by John Eisenhower, President Eisenhower's son. I found his argument that Kerry actually shared more of Eisenhower's values than did Bush very convincing and ended up voting Democratic for the first time in my life.