This should not be downplayed, for the Tribune has NEVER gone for a Democrat since the paper began with endorsements including Abraham Lincoln, though it notes it has endorsed third-party candidates Horace Greeley in 1872 and Teddy Roosevelt in 1912:
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.
With that in mind, in 1872 we endorsed Horace Greeley, who ran as an independent against the corrupt administration of Republican President Ulysses S. Grant. (Greeley was later endorsed by the Democrats.) In 1912 we endorsed Theodore Roosevelt, who ran as the Progressive Party candidate against Republican President William Howard Taft.
The Tribune's decisions then were driven by outrage at inept and corrupt business and political leaders.
We see parallels today.
The Republican Party, the party of limited government, has lost its way. The government ran a $237 billion surplus in 2000, the year before Bush took office -- and recorded a $455 billion deficit in 2008. The Republicans lost control of the U.S. House and Senate in 2006 because, as we said at the time, they gave the nation rampant spending and Capitol Hill corruption. They abandoned their principles. They paid the price.
We might have counted on John McCain to correct his party's course. We like McCain. We endorsed him in the Republican primary in Illinois. In part because of his persuasion and resolve, the U.S. stands to win an unconditional victory in Iraq.
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Almost as big an endorsement as the above was the one by fellow Tribune paper the Los Angeles Times, which hasn't endorsed a presidential candidate since 1972:
It is inherent in the American character to aspire to greatness, so it can be disorienting when the nation stumbles or loses confidence in bedrock principles or institutions. That's where the United States is as it prepares to select a new president: We have seen the government take a stake in venerable private financial houses; we have witnessed eight years of executive branch power grabs and erosion of civil liberties; we are still recovering from a murderous attack by terrorists on our own soil and still struggling with how best to prevent a recurrence.
We need a leader who demonstrates thoughtful calm and grace under pressure, one not prone to volatile gesture or capricious pronouncement. We need a leader well-grounded in the intellectual and legal foundations of American freedom. Yet we ask that the same person also possess the spark and passion to inspire the best within us: creativity, generosity and a fierce defense of justice and liberty.
Our nation has never before had a candidate like Obama, a man born in the 1960s, of black African and white heritage, raised and educated abroad as well as in the United States, and bringing with him a personal narrative that encompasses much of the American story but that, until now, has been reflected in little of its elected leadership. The excitement of Obama's early campaign was amplified by that newness. But as the presidential race draws to its conclusion, it is Obama's character and temperament that come to the fore. It is his steadiness. His maturity.
It seems both Tribune papers want to make history, thus their both breaking "tradition."
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My hometown paper, the Medford Mail Tribune, has endorsed Barack Obama for president:
The American public approaches the Nov. 4 election with a profound sense of weariness.
The past eight years have seen the United States' prestige and power in the world sharply diminished. American soldiers continue to die in two wars that now have dragged on longer than this country spent fighting World War II. "Enemy noncombatants" continue to molder in a prison camp in Cuba; some of those captured by the U.S. have been tortured in violation of international agreements this nation once defended.
The economy has taken body blows in recent weeks, and the long-term effects of the Wall Street meltdown are still unknown. Americans have seen their retirement funds evaporate and are worried about their jobs, their mortgages and their children's future. Polls show a majority of voters think the country is on the wrong track.
This election will produce no magic solutions to any of these problems, but it is clear that America needs to reverse the damage wrought by eight years of what most agree has been a failed administration. Nov. 4 will give voters the opportunity to choose the direction the country will take going forward.
We think Sen. Barack Obama offers the best chance to put America back together, to regain its stature in the world and to reinvigorate its economy.
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Drudge says the NYT will endorse Obama on Sunday.
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The San Francisco Chronicle recommends voters pick Barack Obama:
Even though each ultimately voted for the same solution - the $700 billion bailout - their demeanors could not have been more different. Sen. John McCain magnified the aura of crisis, "suspending" his campaign to return to Washington, where his role in negotiations was at best tangential. Sen. Barack Obama was a portrait of calmness and deliberation, reminding Americans that it is possible for a leader to juggle more than one task at a time.
Obama showed steadiness in a moment of anxiety, with Americans' portfolios withering and policymakers scrambling to do something - anything - to staunch the panic. The Illinois senator was similarly deliberative - in contrast with McCain's quick-draw provocation - when Russia invaded Georgia in August.
In those crises, and in the hot lights of three debates, Obama demonstrated a presidential depth and temperament. His performance under the unrelenting scrutiny of the past 20 months has helped quell the "experience issue" for a 47-year-old senator who was elected in 2004.
This is rather hilarious. Obama has NEVER been scrutinized by the media all this time for fear of being tagged racist or something. Obama and McCain are identical in so many ways, but Obama has a better "temperament" although brazenly unqualified.
Oh, well, it's just an editorial.
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The Modesto Bee, like sister publications the Fresno Bee and the Sacramento Bee, has endorsed Barack Obama:
A litany of serious problems faces this country: the collapse of financial institutions, spiraling national debt, rising unemployment, a dysfunctional health care system, crumbling infrastructure, a failed energy policy and porous borders. And we're fighting two wars.
What we've been doing isn't working. America needs a president who can look to the future and inspire change. We believe Barack Obama is the candidate who can do that.
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The Columbian in Vancouver, Washington, says it's all about judgment as it endorses Obama:
So it’s no surprise that John McCain and Barack Obama are campaigning as agents of change. All the more reason for voters to participate. In Clark County, ballots were mailed yesterday.
Any successful reformer must excel in leadership and judgment. In the past several months, Obama has distanced himself as the superior candidate in those two areas, and today he receives The Columbian’s endorsement for president. Two quick reminders:
n Our opinion is only that, refuted by many, carrying no distinguishable impact. Our opinion is offered more to stimulate conversation than to change minds.
n No candidate is perfect, as evidenced by our 2004 endorsement: “Bush, Reluctantly.” Obama carries baggage we consider unsightly, such as the unfair advantages he would grant labor unions. We also are wary of a few past relationships he’s had with controversial figures. McCain carries that same baggage, to a lesser degree.
But as we examined leadership qualities of both men, we saw Obama’s massive strides in uniting his own Democratic party, even reaching beyond his party to speak to all Americans. McCain, in stark contrast, continues to slog through a fractious Republican Party that often is his worst enemy.
It takes strong leadership skills to enlist record numbers of volunteers and to continually explore new heights in the polls, as Obama methodically demonstrates.
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The Chattanooga Times Free-Press also came out for Obama, but I cannot find the editorial. It may in the print version only.
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The Cortez Journal says the U.S. needs a new direction and Obama can provide it:
The United States faces a pivotal choice in this presidential election and the alternatives are clear. What is needed in that decision, as in our markets and our dealings with the world, is to act like Americans and approach the future with optimism. Voters should reject the politics of fear and elect Barack Obama.
After the feckless leadership of the last eight years, the offer of hope is beyond appealing. It is essential. We need to restore this country's position as a bastion of human rights and re-establish respect for the United States government at home and abroad. We must reinvigorate and restructure our economy, revive the idea that children will be better off than their parents, and face the 21st century with confidence.
John McCain cannot do that. He is intellectually and emotionally trapped in a bygone era.
Obama, however, offers a clear and certain break with the past. And that is absolutely necessary.
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Last Sunday the Durango Herald News came out for Barack Obama for president:
The United States faces a pivotal choice in this presidential election, and the alternatives are clear. What is needed in that decision, as in our markets and our dealings with the world, is to act like Americans and approach the future with optimism. Voters should reject the politics of fear and elect Barack Obama.
Obama offers what America now needs: Confidence without swagger, intelligence without condescension, a mind unencumbered with the baggage of the '60s, and an optimistic outlook eloquently expressed.
After the feckless leadership of the last eight years, the offer of hope is beyond appealing. It is essential. We need to restore this country's position as a bastion of human rights and re-establish respect for the United States government at home and abroad. We must reinvigorate and restructure our economy, revive the idea that children will be better off than their parents, and face the 21st century with confidence.
John McCain cannot do that. He is intellectually and emotionally trapped in a bygone era. And since his 2000 run, the maverick McCain has been replaced by one with a wet finger in the wind.
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McCain did earn one new endorsement, this one from the Mountain Valley News. This editorial was the easiest to find, for it had a McCain/Palin icon on the homepage:
The media in general has had some great success in portraying Barack Obama as a deity bestowed upon us to save us from all evil and to provide us with us with everything we need. We are being led to believe that this country is great because of the government rather than the people that have shed their blood and invested their fortunes in both the present and the future.
We cannot afford to have Obama declared some sort of Messiah with Nancy Pelozi and Harry Reed making up the remainder of the ‘Holy Trinity.’
Our endorsement of John McCain is a declaration of our belief in the future. We believe, even with the stark disagreements we have with McCain’s record, we can survive four years with him in the White House. We do not believe America will survive, as we know it to be if we are subjected to four, or worse, eight years of the Socialistic radicalism demonstrated by Obama.
The paper is clearly way to the right, but it IS an entertaining editorial.
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The Denver Post, usually a Republican paper, has endorsed Barack Obama:
Given this inescapable economic agenda, The Post believes Barack Obama is better equipped to lead America back to a prosperous future.
It's time to change course.
Frankly, neither Obama nor McCain has a comprehensive plan to end the economic crisis, or to even calm our jittery nerves. But Obama's promise to surround himself with this country's top economic thinkers, such as Warren Buffet, is at least somewhat comforting.
In unsteady times, it may seem obvious to gravitate toward the veteran politician, but in this campaign, it's been the newcomer who has had the steady hand.
This fast-breaking global meltdown overwhelmed both campaigns and the final weeks of a hard-fought political contest are hardly the place for the cool, bipartisan thinking needed to get us out of this mess. Fortunately, bipartisan efforts by the Bush administration and Congress have at least bought America time to begin crafting long-term economic reforms.
Looking at McCain's and Obama's specific proposals, we unfortunately find much to dislike in both port- folios. We can live with Obama's call to raise taxes on families earning more than $250,000 a year. And, in fact, we've long thought it fiscally irresponsible to wage two wars on tax cuts.
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Because Blogger zaps out foreign language posts, I couldn't post the La Opinion and El Diario La Prensa editorial excerpts. Both papers came out for Barack Obama.
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