Following Worcester politics and endorsements?

I've put a post on it over here.

Watch those endorsements

Within the past twenty-four hours, it has come to my attention that the Connecticut Education Association has endorsed Governor Malloy, and that the Providence Teachers Union has endorsed former Mayor Buddy Cianci.
What the...?
If you don't know about Malloy, Jonathan Pelto of Wait, What? above has the rundown. I think if you're in New England, you're familiar with Cianci's history.
Frankly, I'm horrified by both.
If you're a member of a union, take a look at who is on the committees that make these decisions. I'll say honestly that I was surprised by some of the endorsements offered by the MTA this fall, as well, knowing the voting records of some running for re-election. If your vision from the classroom isn't being accurately represented by those speaking on your behalf...time to organize.

NEA endorsement in context

Over the weekend, the National Education Association endorsed President Obama for re-election. A bit of context:

Let's provide some historical context for elections since 1988.
1988  Dukakis got 86%
1992 Clinton got 88%
1996 Clinton got 91%
2000 Gore got 86.5%
2004 Kerry got 86.5%
2008 Obama got 79.8%
2011, Obama got 72%.
Unlike Clinton, in his endorsement for reelection Obama dropped 7.8% (sic), while Clinton went up 3%.
And Obama's percentage in 2008 was already the lowest in the past 5 elections.
This is far from "overwhelming" support by historical standards.

The same source also has the strongly worded rebuke of Secretary Arne Duncan (now nicknamed on the web "13 Things We Hate About Arne Duncan.") The sad fact is, Teacher Ken is right: the endorsement is going to get the news, not the percentages, and not the rebuke. They should have made endorsement conditional on improving his educational policies.