Black, white, blue all over
The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune on Friday endorsed Barack Obama -- the first time either newspaper has supported a Democrat for president.
Obama has picked up endorsements from several other big newspapers in the last week, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. He has been endorsed by more than 50 newspapers nationwide, and his opponent, Republican John McCain, has been endorsed by 16, according to Editor & Publisher, a journal that covers the newspaper industry.
In 2004, Democrat John F. Kerry edged out incumbent George W. Bush in newspaper endorsements.
The Times endorsement, which appeared online Friday and will be printed Sunday, calls Obama “educated and eloquent, sober and exciting, steady and mature.”
“He is no lone rider,” the editorial says. “He is a consensus builder, a leader. . . . He represents the nation as it is, and as it aspires to be.” The Times has not endorsed a candidate in a presidential election since 1972, when it supported President Nixon for reelection.
In February, The Times endorsed Obama and McCain in the presidential primaries, and explained, “We chose to resume endorsing out of the same conviction that infuses the rest of our work -- that society benefits from civil discourse and that editorials help stimulate that conversation.”
-- Kate Linthicum
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