quote:Daily Endorsement Tally: On 'Super Sunday,' Kerry Makes Huge Gains By Greg Mitchell
NEW YORK Sen. John Kerry continued his raid on newspapers that backed President Bush in 2000, grabbing 22 new "flip-flops," plus The Washington Post, which was a major supporter of the war in Iraq. The Democrat has now won endorsements from at least 33 papers that went for Bush in 2000, while Bush has earned only two Gore papers.
However, Bush got a prize in the key state of Ohio, The Columbus Dispatch.
Kerry now leads Bush 122-69 in endorsements in E&P's exclusive tally, and he leads by about 14.9 million to 8.9 million in the circulation of backing papers.
And more setbacks for Bush: The Detroit News, which has never endorsed a Democrat, and which backed Bush in 2000, announced that it would sit out the 2004 election, not happy with either candidate. The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, another Bush backer in 2000, said the same thing today in an editorial titled "No One to Champion." A third Bush supporter in 2000, The Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa., also declared neutrality today.
In gaining the Orlando Sentinel (one of the switches from Bush), Kerry completed a sweep of major papers in a top swing state, Florida.
The Chicago Sun-Times, the Los Angeles Daily News, and The Commercial-Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., were among the 22 papers that backed Bush in 2000 but today chose Kerry.
For his part, Bush gained the key Columbus, Ohio, paper. In its editorial, the Dispatch said it was "less than enthused about the choices." It said it was troubled by Bush's fiscal policies and the war in Iraq but said that neither Kerry's Senate record nor "his shifting positions during the presidential campaign inspire confidence that he would provide the strong, resolute leadership America desperately needs."
Bush also picked up the Houston Chronicle and Denver Post, the latter in a switch from Gore in 2000. William Dean Singleton, now the publisher of that paper, is known as a strong Bush supporter. His MediaNews Group also owns the Daily News in Los Angeles, which Singleton allowed to go for Kerry.
Has anyone here ever been influenced in their choice for president by newspaper endorsements? I've read them when it comes to ballot measures and minor candidates, but for presidential elections I've always known who I'd vote for by the time newspapers make their endorsements in the few weeks right before the election...
Posts: 2911 | Registered: Aug 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
It doesn't seem to be a reconcilable idea to complain about perceived biases in the media and then to base your vote on the media's endorsement.
Posts: 3446 | Registered: Jul 2002
| IP: Logged |
NEW YORK Sen. John Kerry wrapped up a surprisingly one-sided "victory" in the race for 2004 newspaper endorsements with another solid performance on the closing Sunday of the race. Gaining 17 new papers to President George W. Bush's 9, Kerry holds a 203-160 lead in E&P's exclusive tally.
E&P election year surveys in recent decades concluded by giving an overall edge to the Republican candidate for president, except in one of Bill Clinton's races. In the past, major metros tended to split right down the middle, but Kerry has carried them by about a 5-3 margin this year. This gives him an edge in the circulation of papers backing him of about 20 million to 14 million (our chart below will be updated on Monday).
Kerry picked up another major paper today, as expected, The Sun in Baltimore. Bush, as anticipated, gained the Providence (R.I.) Journal and the Tribune-Review in Pittsburgh, but the editorial in the latter underscored what E&P has found (in reading hundreds of editorials) to be a perhaps significant trend: even his supporters find much to strongly criticize about the president.
The Tribune-Review, a proudly conservative paper owned by Richard Mellon Scaife, said today, "The presidency of George W. Bush has been a disappointment in many regards." It then cited the war in Iraq, "runaway domestic spending," in which Bush "has been sickeningly accommodating; the ever-porking of taxpayers is an economic, political and moral disgrace."
But the paper was not through, hitting Bush on immigration and the Medicare drug plan, leading to this startling revelation: "All of this sounds like a strong argument against endorsing the president. We considered doing just that." It added: "But then we considered the alternative. Sobriety is a wonderful thing."
Two Michigan papers that endorsed Bush also did so, barely. The Kalamazoo Gazette required a tie-breaking vote on the board, and the Ann Arbor News professed disappointment with both candidates.
It got worse for Bush out in California, where the North County Times near San Diego withdrew its Bush backing from 2000, opting for neutrality. And in battleground state of Colorado, the Greeley Tribune switched from Bush to Kerry.
This gives Kerry 43 papers that backed Bush in 2004, along with at least 16 from the president's column that have gone neutral.
As I said in the first post, I don't know if anyone ever has their vote for president swayed by newspaper endorsements. I'd guess that endorsements for president tend more to reflect public opinions than to actually sway them.
It is interesting that Kerry is ahead in endorsements. Newspaper presidential endorsements usually tend to reflect the publishers' opinions, and publishers tend to be Republicans. The quote mentions that Clinton got a majority of endorsements in one of his races; I read somewhere else that Johnson was the only other recent Democractic presidential candidate to pick up a majority of newspaper endorsements.
posted
I'm never swayed by newspapers...personally, I don't agree with most newspaper editors about anything, so I find it unlikely that I would agree with them about who to elect. I generally read the endorcements page and roll my eyes.
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Frankly, I'm not too thrilled with the idea of the media taking sides, even if it is supposed to stay oout of their reporting, I find it ... ominious. I suppose they can do whatever they want with their papers, they own them, but I'm less than impressed with their lack of political bias.
And yes, this goes for those who choose to endorse Bush as much as those who choose Kerry.
posted
Don't these newspaper endorsements happen awfully late in the game to make a lot of difference? It seems rather silly that they do them at all. (I had never heard of it until tonight!)
Posts: 6415 | Registered: Jul 2000
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
