But yesterday, in a bit of a surprise, the Kentucky Professional Firefighters union endorsed the Lunsford-Stumbo ticket. The firefighters endorsement comes as a coalition of other labor unions is preparing to raise money and run commercials against Lunsford. The Louisville businessman is hoping a couple of endorsements from independent labor groups will help blunt the heat he's about to take from the Teamsters, Kentucky Association of State Employees and United Mine Workers.

As I've said before, I'm not sure endorsements carry much weight with voters, who are generally smart enough and independent enough to make up their own minds without their union heads or company bosses telling them who to vote for. But they can be helpful when campaign donations are attached or they involve defectors from an opponent (Steve Pence endorsing Anne Northup).

From this point in the campaign forward to primary election day, one should view any endorsements as an attempt to jump on a bandwagon. In this case, the firefighters know Lunsford is leading in the polls and is almost assured of one spot in a runoff, or possibly getting over 40% of the vote in the May 22nd primary and becoming the democratic party nominee. Endorsing Lunsford, Beshear or Fletcher at this point doesn't strike me as a particularly gutsy move but might be considered the politically smart move.