Newspaper Endorsements

Political Wire:

The latest Editor & Publisher tally shows Obama maintains his strong lead in daily newspaper endorsements, 234 to 105. The circulation of the Obama-backing papers stands at over 21 million, compared with McCain's 7 million.

Furthermore, at least 47 newspapers have now switched to Obama from Bush in 2004, with just four flipping to McCain.

Mum

Sen. Hagel (R-NE) won't say who he'll vote for, fueling speculation that he will vote for Obama.

...His silence on the issue comes days after his wife announced she would be voting for Sen. Obama (D-Ill.), and follows a summer in which Hagel has dropped clues that he would prefer Obama to Sen. John McCain — despite being close friends with the Arizona Republican and being a chairman on his 2000 presidential campaign.

Odds and Ends

The McCain campaign volunteer, who claimed that she was mugged, assaulted, and had a "B" carved on her face, retracts her charges. Turns out, she made up the story.

Is John McCain obsessed with Iowa?

TPM: Conservative legal scholar and Reagan Solicitor General Charles Fried, who just endorsed Obama, isn't just a Republican. He's actually one of McCain's campaign advisors.

Obama is running 240% more ads in Florida than McCain.

The Economist: A fleet of Volkswagen Golfs (Rabbits to Americans) that get a staggering 94 miles per gallon (or, as Europeans say, 2.5 litres per 100km) are running around Berlin. Something like the Golf “Twin Drive” is what many of us will be driving within five years."

Who will be the next DCCC Chair?

Return of the Presidential Coattails?

News Briefs, 10/23/08

Iraqi province of Babil is handed over to Iraqi security forces by the US military. Babil is the 12th of 18 provinces to be handed over to the Iraqis.

Greenspan concedes error in regulatory views.

Barack Obama's campaign has poured people and money into Florida in building the largest field organization ever assembled in the Sunshine State.

Florida adds voting booths to cope with long lines.

Minnesota's former Republican Governor endorses Obama.

Bill Clinton will campaign for Jim Martin in Georgia's Senate race.

Rep. Murtha (D-PA) is in a tight race after calling his own district racist.

NRCC pulls out of Colorado's CD-4, leaving virulently anti-gay Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO) on her own. (H/T: Drew)

NRCC also pulls support for three other endangered GOP incumbents -- Michele Bachmann (MN-06), Tom Feeney (FL-24), and Joe Knollenberg (MI-09).

Briefs from the Presidential Race, 10/20/08

McCain has (only) $47 million to spend.

Democrats have an early voting edge in Nevada.

Of the 25,000-plus who voted early, 15,644 were Democrats and 5,721 were Republicans, according to Clark County Election Department records. If that trends holds, this won't be a wave; it'll be a tsunami.

Jane Hamsher argues that McCain's scaremongering on Obama's unprecedented fundraising is misleading.

The American Prospect recommends Sheila Bair for Treasury Secretary.

Bair, 54, also has special appeal because even though she is by far the toughest and most public-minded regulator now on the scene, she happens to be a Republican. It would be an elegant touch for Obama to appoint a Treasury Secretary who is both Republican and female.

Obama makes a huge push in Florida to coincide with the start of early voting in the state.

Obama has no plans to return to the blue states before the elections, aside from a brief stop in Madison, WI. Instead he will be campaigning exclusively in battleground states won by Bush.

Obama leads McCain in newspaper endorsements by a better than 3:1 margin, where Kerry barely edged out Bush in 2004.

Powell and the Battleground States

The Hill:

Retired Gen. Colin Powell’s endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama could turn undecided and independent voters in the Illinois senator’s favor in Virginia, Gov. Tim Kaine (D) said Sunday.

Virginia has a large concentration of military personnel and defense-related businesses and Obama has poured a lot of resources into the state, hoping to score a rare Democratic win there.

...Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said Powell’s endorsement will also resonate strongly in Florida, another battleground state.

“We have thousands of military retirees in the state of Florida. And I think what Colin Powell's endorsement does say is it shows that Barack Obama can build bridges across party lines,” she said on the same program. Polls show Obama three points ahead of McCain in the Sunshine State.

The value of endorsements is debatable but if Powell's endorsement can shift a few military votes in Virginia, then that's nothing to sneeze at. In a close race, every vote matters. Even if the endorsement doesn't make a difference in the battleground states, the Obama campaign was definitely able to win the news cycle based on the coverage devoted to the endorsement.

Powell Endorses Obama

Swampland:

The former general and secretary of state under President Bush said that after following the race closely for the last two months, he was left troubled by the McCain’s handling of the economic crisis, his pick of Sarah Palin as his running mate and his attacks on Obama’s relationship to 60s domestic terrorist William Ayers.

Endorsements, A First

The Chicago Tribune and LA Times endorse Obama. Partisans will argue that this is just another indicator of the liberal mainstream media's love affair with the Democrats. Hold on to your horses. Both newspapers have never endorsed a Democrat for the White House! (H/T: David C)

Chicago Tribune:

This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune. This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president.

The Tribune in its earliest days took up the abolition of slavery and linked itself to a powerful force for that cause--the Republican Party. The Tribune's first great leader, Joseph Medill, was a founder of the GOP. The editorial page has been a proponent of conservative principles. It believes that government has to serve people honestly and efficiently.

Top of the Ticket, a LA Times blog, discusses the endorsement by their parent newspaper.

Someone could suggest the endorsement confirms the mainstream print media's ongoing adoration of the liberal Windy City machine magi. Except this is the newspaper's first presidential endorsement of any kind since 1972, when it had appeared to learn its lesson and stopped White House endorsements after supporting Richard M. Nixon, who was forced to resign in disgrace. So, no Times pattern there.

In fact, Obama is the first Democratic presidential nominee endorsed by The Times newspaper ever, which makes him very special or weird.

Conventional wisdom says that endorsements do not matter and perhaps they don't. But what does it say about John McCain as a candidate and about the campaign that he's run when two prominent newspapers that have never endorsed a Democrat decide to endorse Obama? The fact that they have endorsed Obama over McCain, who was thought to be the strongest candidate the Republicans could nominate for the general election, is just the cherry on top.

From the LA Times endorsement:

John McCain distinguished himself through much of the Bush presidency by speaking out against reckless and self-defeating policies. He earned The Times' respect, and our endorsement in the California Republican primary, for his denunciation of torture, his readiness to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and his willingness to buck his party on issues such as immigration reform. But the man known for his sense of honor and consistency has since announced that he wouldn't vote for his own immigration bill, and he redefined "torture" in such a disingenuous way as to nearly embrace what he once abhorred.

Indeed, the presidential campaign has rendered McCain nearly unrecognizable. His selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was, as a short-term political tactic, brilliant. It was also irresponsible, as Palin is the most unqualified vice presidential nominee of a major party in living memory. The decision calls into question just what kind of thinking -- if that's the appropriate word -- would drive the White House in a McCain presidency. Fortunately, the public has shown more discernment, and the early enthusiasm for Palin has given way to national ridicule of her candidacy and McCain's judgment.