Dick Cheney's Hometown Paper Endorses Obama Today, Cites Palin

Oh my dear lord this is too precious. Hey- go click on Greg's book over to the right, he's the brilliant guy who brought us this nugget.

NEW YORK For the past six weeks, we have chronicled the landslide in newspaper endorsements for Barack Obama (our new daily will be ready in a short bit here). Included in this have been well over 50 daily papers that have switched from backing Bush in 2004 to supporting Obama this year. Then there are the embarrassments such as the largest paper in Alaska, The Anchorage Daily Times, also endorsing Obama.

Now comes another signal: This morning, Dick Cheney's hometown paper in Wyoming, the Casper Star-Tribune, switched to Obama.

(snip)

Once again, a key factor in the GOP defections: McCain showing "poor judgement" in picking Sarah Palin.

Arizona newspaper endorses Obama

By GottaLaff

From the Arizona Daily Star:

We see America the way Barack Obama sees America.

Our future requires a steady, intelligent and, as former Secretary of State Colin Powell said, a "transformational" leader to guide us into a new era. Obama brings deep intellectual curiosity, equanimity and discipline. [...]

However, the ways of the past, which we believe McCain understands, will not work in this new America. The future requires new tools and new expertise. A premium must be placed on more than just love of country. We must re-embrace American ideals and lead the world on a stronger path to prosperity and peace.

The time is now and the leader is Barack Obama. The Star endorses Obama for president of the United States.

Like a race car driver going into a turn, a leader must see not only what confronts our nation today but envision where we come out on the other side. Obama sees how the United States is connected to other nations through our economic, immigration, national security and energy policies. No one can thrive alone. [...]

He's proved himself with his nuanced understanding of complicated issues. His vision is not built on rhetoric. He offers substantive, detailed policies and the acumen to make these changes a reality.

He demonstrates leadership by surrounding himself with smart people who will strengthen his administration. For vice president Obama chose Joseph Biden, a U.S. senator with 35 years of experience, a foreign policy expert qualified to be president.

Obama made a responsible, pragmatic and intelligent choice that shows us he puts the nation above party politics.

This moment in history requires courage to change. Our nation must find a way to restore the confidence that our government is of the people, by the people, for the people — all of our people.

We share Obama's vision of America. And we share his urgency.

H/t: Ellen

Big Man On Campus: College Papers Back Obama -- By 79 to 1

By GottaLaff

Now if those infamous youthy college procrastinators will get themselves to the polls, that would be something:

The Obama campaign leads in newspaper endorsements from dailies and weeklies, based on our tally so far (see separate story). The Democratic ticket has an even more impressive lead when it comes to college newspapers — 79 to 1, according to our own list and UWIRE’s Presidential Endorsement Scorecard.

You can see the entire list here.

The Economist endorses the socialist, trashes Gramm-pa McCain

By GottaLaff

Speaking of newspaper endorsements... Via Ambinder, we get a few choice words of suh-nap for Grammps:

"....the Candidate McCain of the past six months has too often seemed the victim of political sorcery, his good features magically inverted, his bad ones exaggerated. The fiscal conservative who once tackled Mr Bush over his unaffordable tax cuts now proposes not just to keep the cuts, but to deepen them. The man who denounced the religious right as "agents of intolerance" now embraces theocratic culture warriors. The campaigner against ethanol subsidies (who had a better record on global warming than most Democrats) came out in favour of a petrol-tax holiday. It has not all disappeared: his support for free trade has never wavered. Yet rather than heading towards the centre after he won the nomination, Mr McCain moved to the right.

Meanwhile his temperament, always perhaps his weak spot, has been found wanting. Sometimes the seat-of-the-pants method still works: his gut reaction over Georgia--to warn Russia off immediately--was the right one. Yet on the great issue of the campaign, the financial crisis, he has seemed all at sea, emitting panic and indecision. Mr McCain has never been particularly interested in economics, but, unlike Mr Obama, he has made little effort to catch up or to bring in good advisers (Doug Holtz-Eakin being the impressive exception).

The choice of Sarah Palin epitomised the sloppiness. It is not just that she is an unconvincing stand-in, nor even that she seems to have been chosen partly for her views on divisive social issues, notably abortion. Mr McCain made his most important appointment having met her just twice.

Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made. Had he become president in 2000 instead of Mr Bush, the world might have had fewer problems. But this time it is beset by problems, and Mr McCain has not proved that he knows how to deal with them.

Oof!

Newspaper endorsements matter

By GottaLaff

Too bad so many papers are going under:

A new study of newspaper endorsements finds the they "are influential in the sense that voters are more likely to support the recommended candidate after publication of the endorsement. The degree of this influence, however, depends upon the credibility of the endorsement. In this way, endorsements for the Democratic candidate from left-leaning newspapers are less influential than are endorsements from neutral or right-leaning newspapers, and likewise for endorsements for the Republican."

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.

Brian Williams just showed a clip of his Obama interview. Obama was terrific, discussing the Supreme Court and privacy issues. Of course, Williams had to follow up with Noron McDonnell by saying candidates are "one step away from disaster" when they do interviews this late in the game.

Obama also appears on Rachel Maddow's show tonight. I'm sure it will be a complete disaster.

The Financial Times endorses Barack Obama: "Obama is the better choice"

By GottaLaff

Obama is the only choice:

US presidential elections involve a fabulous expense of time, effort and money. Doubtless it is all too much – but, by the end, nobody can complain that the candidates have been too little scrutinised. We have learnt a lot about Barack Obama and John McCain during this campaign. In our view, it is enough to be confident that Mr Obama is the right choice. [...]

Nonetheless, a campaign is a test of leadership. Mr Obama ran his superbly; Mr McCain’s has often looked a shambles. After eight years of George W. Bush, the steady competence of the Obama operation commands respect. [...]

[G]ambles do not always pay off. [McCain's] choice of Sarah Palin as running mate, widely acknowledged to have been a mistake, is an obtrusive case in point. Rashness is not a virtue in a president. The cautious and deliberate Mr Obama is altogether a less alarming prospect.

Rest assured that, should he win, Mr Obama is bound to disappoint. How could he not? He is expected to heal the country’s racial divisions, reverse the trend of rising inequality, improve middle-class living standards, cut almost everybody’s taxes, transform the image of the United States abroad, end the losses in Iraq, deal with the mess in Afghanistan and much more besides.

Succeeding in those endeavours would require more than uplifting oratory and presidential deportment even if the economy were growing rapidly, which it will not be.

The challenges facing the next president will be extraordinary. We hesitate to wish it on anyone, but we hope that Mr Obama gets the job.

And some insight, via DKos:

For those of you not familiar with the paper, here's a little background:

The FT was launched as the London Financial Guide on January 9, 1888, by Horatio Bottomley, renaming itself the Financial Times on February 13 of the same year. Describing itself as the friend of "The Honest Financier and the Respectable Broker", it was initially published as a four page journal from its headquarters in London. The initial readership was the financial community of the City of London. The Financial Times soon established itself as the sober but reliable "stockbroker's Bible" or alternatively "parish magazine of the City", with its only rival being the slightly older and more daring Financial News.

http://en.wikipedia.org/...

They currently publish editions worldwide :

In 1997, the FT launched the U.S. edition, which is now printed in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, Orlando and Washington, D.C., although the newspaper was first printed in the United States outside of New York City in 1985. In March 2006, the FT's U.S. circulation was 137,845.

In September 1998, the FT became the first UK-based newspaper to sell more copies internationally than within the UK. Worldwide circulation stands at 432,548 (Source: ABC July 2006), with global readership estimated at over 1.6 million people in more than 140 countries.

Here's where they stand politically:

The Financial Times is normally seen politically as centrist, in contrast to its right-leaning principal competitor, The Wall Street Journal, owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. It advocates free markets and is generally in favour of globalisation. During the 1980s it supported Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan's monetarist policies. However, it has recently seemed to have aligned itself with Labour in the UK. It also has been quite supportive, until recently, of Gordon Brown, the current British Prime Minister. FT editorials have tended to be pro-European Union, though often taking a critical view. Noam Chomsky has said that it is "the only paper that tells the truth".[12]

GObama!

Anchorage Daily News Endorses Obama For President

Serious ouch. Nut graphs-

Gov. Palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for Alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. The election, after all is said and done, is not about Sarah Palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, Sen. John McCain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. In a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain.

h/t

'Hartford Courant' To Endorse Obama, Only 2nd Democrat Ever

By GottaLaff

GObama!

The Hartford Courant will endorse Sen. Obama this weekend, making it the newspaper’s second endorsement of a Democratic presidential candidate in its 244-year history.

It gives all the usual reasons.

The Courant is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the nation.

UPDATE:

The Obama-Biden ticket maintains its strong lead in the race for daily newspaper endorsements, by 134 to 52, an almost 3-1 margin and an even wider spread in the circulation of those papers (see full tally here). [...]

The two candidates have basically split the past 20 endorsements after Obama took a huge early lead.

Obama's lopsided margin, including most of the major papers that have decided so far, is in stark contrast to John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205.

Obama Leads in Newspaper Endorsements

Not even close. Via Taegan.

"The Obama-Biden ticket maintains its strong lead in the race for daily newspaper endorsements, by 105 to 33, a better than 3-1 margin, picking up 50 or more papers in the past day," reports Editor and Publisher.

"Obama's lopsided margin, including most of the major papers that have decided so far, is in stark contrast to John Kerry barely edging George W. Bush in endorsements in 2004 by 213 to 205."