The Register's Editorial: Candidates for public office should be ready to answer tough questions

The question of whether newspapers should endorse political candidates has come up once again, as it often does this time of year. Typically those who think endorsements are wrong are those whose candidate did not get one, whereas those whose candidate was endorsed see nothing wrong with the process in principle.

The Des Moines Register has for decades endorsed candidates in elections ranging from county supervisor to president. Our reasoning is that we are in the opinion business, and we write editorials on every other issue of the day seven days a week, 52 weeks of the year. Why withhold our opinion on one of the most important questions of the day?

The endorsement process is especially important because the members of the editorial board have a special vantage point after having had the opportunity to sit down with candidates for a serious, unscripted conversation about the issues.

Those conversations provide a more complete understanding of candidates' positions and their thought processes than a stump speech or campaign ad alone do.

That's especially true in the venomous campaign that has unfolded on TV in the form of campaign spots during the U.S. Senate race to replace Sen. Tom Harkin.

So, it was disappointing when Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst canceled a meeting with the Register's editorial board this week. The meeting had been scheduled for Thursday after five weeks of back-and-forth negotiations. On Wednesday evening, however, Ernst's staff informed Register Publisher Rick Green that she would not be coming.

The reason: They assumed the Register had already made up its mind based on recent editorials critical of some of her positions. As Green explained to the campaign staffer Wednesday and to reporters Thursday, that was not true. In fact, we endorsed her in the Republican primary in June.

We wanted to hear more specifics about her vision, priorities and positions. From her. Not from handlers, canned speeches or from TV spots.

We understand candidates have demanding schedules at this point in the campaign, but this about more than just about one meeting at one newspaper. Ernst also declined invitations to meet with editorial boards at the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Dubuque Telegraph-Herald and other Iowa newspapers.

In any case, candidates for public office should be willing to meet with groups and individuals from across the political and ideological spectrum, not just friendly audiences.

After all, a candidate who is elected, whether to Congress or the Iowa Legislature or to a statewide office, needs to get used to answering tough questions.

Tough questions don't go away after the election, when the governing begins.