Even a scream of an endorsement may not matter

“That’s a scream!” deadpanned Paul Green, Roosevelt University’s Director of the Institute of Politics, referring to Dean’s famous on camera shriek a decade ago at the Iowa Caucuses that helped doom his candidacy.“Historically, in mayoral elections, endorsements seldom matter,” said Green.Like the visit by President Obama right before the Feb. 24 municipal election to embrace and endorse his old pal and former chief of staff, Emanuel?We know how well that worked out.Emanuel came up short, failing to win the requisite 50 percent plus one vote to win outright. And so goes into the record books as the first Chicago mayor forced into a runoff.Welcome to the world of endorsements.Do they help at all?“Maybe a little bit,” says David Yepsen, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. “They are worth some media attention and buzz and that’s important, especially in a close race.”But?“Nobody delivers anything anymore today. No delivery of (voting) blocks. No street armies,” he said. “Your city has changed.”Both Yepsen and Green agree on one thing when it comes to endorsements.“Money matters,” said Yepsen. “You always watch organizational endorsements like auto workers or teachers.”That’s because they have the ability to both put troops on the ground to go door to door. And they have money to fund commercials.Karen Lewis, head of the Chicago Teacher’s Union, endorsed Garcia after illness forced her out of the race. Her membership gave him the equivalent of precinct workers. And some money.The Chicago Teacher’s Union and the public employee union, SEIU, are where Garcia is counting on getting significant money and troops for door knocking and advertizing. With three weeks to go, it can’t come too soon.Meanwhile, the Emanuel forces have a huge bank account. In the first round of this battle, they had a 10 to 1 advantage, $14 million to Garcia’s $1.4 million.Garcia will head out of town in the next week to raise cash in Denver, Los Angeles, New York and Washington D.C. And that’s where, if progressives like Howard Dean can put real money behind their pronouncements, it could make a difference..But as the mayor learned the hard way in February, money alone doesn’t always buy you love.Turnout, not endorsements, will be key.“I don’t know where Rahm gets any of the voters that were against him,” said Yepsen. “So who is there to show up that maybe didn’t show up in the primary?”And what new voters will turnout for Garcia? Though Latino wards supported him, there is a division in the ranks of Hispanic leadership and turnout in those wards has always been problematic. And black leadership is divided.Yes, there is great interest in this race.But voter passion?Enough to fuel a surge in turnout?Ah, there’s the rub.