I haven't written anything about newspaper endorsements this election cycle, mainly because I don't think they make much difference in an election when both candidates are widely known (they do probably help when candidates or issues aren't well known). Nonetheless, over the past few days there has been a flood of chatter about newspaper endorsements (tis' the season) of which I'll highlight three interesting developments...
- Alaska's largest newspaper, The Anchorage Daily News, endorses, drumroll please...Barack Obama. The money quote:
"[D]espite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time."
- According to Editor and Publisher, in the hotly contested newspaper endorsement race Obama leads by a landslide 160-59. This is in stark contrast to John Kerry who barely edged Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205. At least 35 papers have now switched to Obama from Bush in 2004, with just four flipping to McCain.
- The country's longest continually published newspaper, The Hartford Courant, announced on Friday that it is endorsing Barack Obama. This is only the second time in its 244 year history that it has endorsed the Democratic candidate.
Lastly, click
here for a pretty cool map that graphically displays all of the endorsements to date.
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