The question is, does anyone really care if Oprah or anyone else endorses a candidate, and does it help or hurt a candidate? Okay, that's two questions.

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South Carolina.  Tomorrow, Sunday, looks like it's shaping up to be a huge day for the two big Os.

So big in fact, that the 18,000-seat facility where Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey were first scheduled to appear had to be moved to the 80,000-seat Williams-Brice Stadium at the University of South Carolina, because the demand for tickets was so great.

According to some polls Obama has been closing the gap between himself and Hillary Clinton, and in some cases pulled ahead of her.

The question is, does anyone really care if Oprah or anyone else endorses a candidate, and does it help or hurt a candidate?

Okay, that's two questions.

I remember one time when it hurt, big time.  It hurt me; I doubt it hurt Hal Linden, who was the star of "Barney Miller," and it wasn't a candidate he was endorsing, it was a "thing."

At the time, San Fernando Valley children were being bused out of the Valley to inner city schools to even up the educational playing field, so to speak. Linden joined forces with then mayor Tom Bradley to air public service messages.

Together, they urged Valley parents to obediently comply with the directive and put their kids on unsafe, unseat-belted buses for the freeway trek many miles from home.

Ironically, my son was scheduled to be bused to a school in West Los Angeles that would have been his home school if we hadn't moved to the Valley a couple of years earlier.

There were also the extend hours to be considered.  In total, it meant an extra four hours a day that kids would waste getting up earlier, coming home later, and spending all that extra time breathing in fumes on congested freeways during both rush hours.

The mayor, showing absolute disrespect for the good sense of his constituents, was so fearful that Valley parents were going to riot.  He  felt he had to caution us to mind our manners -- as if we were a bunch of unruly school children -- and follow the rules like so many docile sheep.

It was a total affront to our intelligence and a slap in the face from two men whose children were in private school.  They weren't obeying the court ordered school busing, so how dare they tell us what to do with our children.

I never turned "Barney Miller" on again.

To endorse or not to endorse, that is the question.

I don't care for Oprah.  One has to wonder how good her people judgement is when after all, she's the woman who brought us the pompous, arrogant, insufferable Dr. Phil.

Oprah, just as any other personality, will turn out the groupies and curious to see her and her endorsed candidate, but it's questionable whether she can actually influence anyone to vote for Obama.

It's questionable whether anyone can can influence anyone to vote or not vote for someone.

Former President Bill Clinton has a following that wishes he were still in office.  His presence at Hillary's campaign stops will bring out the faithful, but many of those same people are also suffering from "Clinton fatigue."  His showing up to support his wife doesn't necessarily translate into votes.

Do I care that Oprah's going on the road for Obama?  No.  I don't dislike her so much that I wouldn't vote for him, but I also don't care whom she thinks I or we should vote for.

On the other hand, I like Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Magic Johnson who are supporting Hillary Clinton.  Just because I enjoy their work doesn't mean I'm going to blindly take their endorsement as a reason to vote for her.  Nor should anyone.

It can go either way.  An endorsement can really turn off a potential voter because of whom the endorser is, or it can cause people to consider a candidate that ordinarily they wouldn't have thought about.

I can't think of anyone whose endorsement I would take as reason enough to vote for a candidate. 

Conversely, I can think of endorsers and candidates who have accepted their endorsement that tell me that if they were the only candidate on the ballot, I would not vote for them.

It's certainly hoped that voters evaluate each candidate on his voting record, the merits of his proposals for the direction he'd like to see the country go in, and his stands on issues...not what some personality or another politician says.

It's up to each voter to decide whom to give his precious vote to.  In the end, the only endorsement that counts is that of the individual voter when he casts his ballot.

Authors Bio:
Sandy Sand began her writing career while raising three children and doing public relations work for Women's American ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation through Training). That led to a job as a reporter for the San Fernando Valley Chronicle, a weekly publication in Canoga Park, California. In conjunction with the Chronicle, she broadcast a tri-weekly, 10-minute newscast for KGOE AM. Following the closure of the Chronicle, Sand became the editor of the Tolucan Times and Canyon Crier newspapers in Burbank. She is currently a guest columnist for the Los Angeles Daily News and contributor to ronkayela.com