The nominees - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona - offer voters very different approaches to leadership and to solving the problems that face the country.
Those who know him say Obama is a disciplined, deliberative person who has a distaste for theatrics and who remains unruffled under pressure.
By contrast, McCain’s temper is well documented, as is his propensity to alienate even fellow Republicans by his aggressive and sometimes profane style of confrontation during disagreements.
Ouch!
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The Contra Costa Times also supports Obama:
An Obama election will send a signal to minorities across the country and to countries around the world that we are breaking through the racial divide, opening our hearts to people of all colors and religions.
The next several years will not be easy for this nation. We will need great leadership to help bring us peace and prosperity again. We urge Obama, once elected, to look toward the centrist model of President Clinton, for this country must be governed from the middle. The past eight years of failed policies at home and abroad have not worked. We are ready for change.
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The Dayton Daily News says both candidates are good, but the editors like Obama more:
The nation's moment of choice arrives even as some sort of new era has arrived in the realm of the economy. The problems the nation is obsessed with at this moment are not problems that John McCain has any particular experience with. Neither does Barack Obama.
But in a time of change, Sen. Obama is the more promising leader. With his agile mind, often pitch-perfect judgment and preternatural calm and self-confidence, he seems built for the job of sorting through this thing, if anybody can.
The nation faces a choice that looks more and more like a choice between the future and the past. It has never been one to shrink from the future.
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The Fresno Bee says Obama is the one who can fix this country's mess:
The past eight years have seen the Bush administration lurching from one crisis to another, almost always with John McCain's support. Are we better off? The answer is an indisputable "no." It is time for new energies and new visions.
Barack Obama is thoughtful and reflective, notwithstanding the fiery passion he can bring to a set-piece speech. Those are qualities we very much need after eight years of the catastrophically impulsive "Decider."
John McCain has served his country with extraordinary courage and dedication. But he is, in many ways, a figure out of the past, the Cold Warrior out of time and out of touch. The world has turned since McCain began his long service, and he hasn't kept pace. It is time for change, and Barack Obama is the candidate better suited to guide the United States into this troubled new century.
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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch endorses Barack Obama:
Over the past nine months, Mr. Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, has emerged as the only truly transformative candidate in the race. In the crucible that is a presidential campaign, his intellect, his temperament and equanimity under pressure consistently have been impressive. He has surrounded himself with smart, capable advisers who have helped him refine thorough, nuanced policy positions.
In a word, Mr. Obama has been presidential.
Meanwhile, Mr. McCain, the senior senator from Arizona, became the incredible shrinking man. He shrank from his principled stands in favor of a humane immigration policy. He shrank from his universal condemnation of torture and his condemnation of the politics of smear.
He even shrank from his own campaign slogan, "Country First," by selecting the least qualified running mate since the Swedenborgian shipbuilder Arthur Sewall ran as William Jennings Bryan's No. 2 in 1896.
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The Lone Star Iconoclast endorses Obama:
The future of America is, as it has always been, in the hands of its citizenry. We would not have it any other way. It makes life more interesting — freakier — even with Barack Obama in the White House. Still, the hounds of fascism are always awake, hiding, hungry, and ready to control.
Americans must not choose between liberty and the blessings of food, rent, medicine, and life-sustaining necessities. Such grace is cheap. We must instead nourish our freedom.
Now that the Iconoclast has said its piece, it will return to its exile and gather its energy for another day. May you pursue your happiness with hope, grace, love, and decency in community.
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The Monterey Herald thinks Obama has the right stuff to be president:
So what of Obama?
We wish he had more executive experience. But watching him closely over this long campaign has shown us that the senator from Illinois has a remarkable capacity to learn quickly and deeply, to analyze old ideas and incorporate new ones. He has impressed us with his intellect, his grasp of history, his humanity, his choice of advisers, his ability to make key decisions and, last but not least, his patience.
Can he single-handedly unify the nation? Of course not. We are too big, too complicated, too diverse for that. But Obama clearly sees the value in seeking consensus while his opponent seems to value no opinions other than his own.
While McCain and Palin symbolize the nation's quick-draw, cowboy spirit, Obama reflects the kind of calm deliberation that we need and expect in the political leader of the free world. McCain the fighter pilot, the craps-shooting "maverick," embodies America's past. Obama is much better prepared to lead the America of the present and the future.
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The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, like all of the rest of the papers today I have seen so far, has endorsed Obama:
That the argument about issues has been essentially won by Sen. Obama is plain from the scurrilous attacks now being launched against his character -- increasingly by Ms. Palin -- alleging guilt by association, unpatriotic behavior and worse.
This closing blizzard of slime is another attempt to spread the wizard's curtain further: Don't look at how the economy has impoverished you while a Republican has been in the White House, look at Mr. Obama's passing acquaintance with an old radical who did bad deeds almost 40 years ago, because that is more important.
Yes, they apparently do think the American people are that stupid.
On Nov. 4, we believe Americans will heed the better angels of their nature and recognize that the election of the eloquent Barack Obama -- whose story is a quintessentially American one of impossible odds overcome -- will best answer the pressing call of history.
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The Redding Searchlight will have no endorsement this year for president.
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The Sacramento Bee has endorsed Barack Obama for president:
But for all its admirable qualities, McCain's record also is dotted with instances of impulsive actions and dubious judgments. The most recent is his choice of a stunningly unqualified running mate.
McCain is also irrevocably tied to many of the failed policies of the outgoing administration. His prescription for curing many of the nation's problems, from the economy to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is to order up more of the same policies that have brought us to the current situation. Perhaps that is why his campaign has produced no evidence that he can inspire Americans to the sort of sacrifice and unity that will be needed to meet the challenges of the future.
No one can say with certainty what shape those challenges may take in the next four years. What is certain is that the next president will need to bring many skills and ideas to bear on those challenges.
By electing Barack Obama to the nation's highest office, voters can show that they recognize the seriousness of the present situation and their readiness to tackle whatever the future may bring.
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The San Bernardino Sun says this country needs Obama like a kick to the head (my opinion, not theirs):
Despite the effort McCain is making to distance himself from unpopular President Bush, we don't see huge differences in their approaches to the economy. When deregulation and inattention to Wall Street's excesses is resulting in a form of socialization of much of the economy, it's time for the clean break that an Obama administration would provide.
We think Obama would put the nation more soundly on the road to energy independence. McCain talks a good game there, but his record doesn't support it. Obama would promote investment in green technologies, contributing to a rebound of the economy by producing new jobs that would at the same time begin to wean us from our oil dependence.
McCain, whose strengths obviously are not in the economic realm, lays claim to clear superiority on national defense. But our observation is that Obama holds his own with the more experienced McCain even in that arena.
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The Tennesseean comes out for Barack Obama:
This newspaper believes Obama would be an inspiring choice at an extraordinary time for the nation. The country needs a fresh, energetic face in the White House. Every race for president is important, but the current confluence of events, including the war on terror, mountainous challenges in the economy and a growing strain upon the nation's health-care system make the current race a call for vigorous new approaches and enthusiasm.
Obama has managed to put a tone of optimism in his campaign at a time it would be very easy to be downhearted, worried and pessimistic. That characteristic alone goes a long way in demonstrating the kind of leadership the nation needs.
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The Toledo Blade endorses Barack Obama for president:
Sen. John McCain, by nature, has shown himself to be incapable of providing the American people with an optimistic vision of the future. Firmly rooted in the failed politics and policies of the past, he cannot guide us on a path he does not see.
Senator Obama already has demonstrated that he is a man of the future in the way he has inspired a new generation of voters to become involved in the political process and to actively strive for a better tomorrow.
As a president from another era suggested, Americans should ask themselves: Am I better off than I was eight years ago? Four years ago? The answer is obvious and, therefore, the option on Nov. 4 is clear.
Historically, Ohio has had a critical role in presidential elections and appears poised once again to be a key in deciding who sits in the Oval Office for the next four years. This is an awesome responsibility, and one that cannot be taken lightly. For the future of Ohio and America, there is only one reasonable choice for president: Barack Obama.
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The Wisconsin State Journal has come out for Obama:
If Democrats control Congress, Obama also must resist massive new spending and instead strive to ferret out waste. America is already teetering on financial collapse, having doubled its debt — much of it owed to foreign countries — during the last eight years.
Obama needs to tackle the unsustainable and soaring costs of entitlement programs.
Now is the time for shared goals and shared sacrifice. Now is the time for a fresh approach, for renewed energy, for smart and cost-effective solutions that appeal across the partisan, economic and racial divides.
John McCain is a great American. He would make a fine president. McCain is impressively steeled to say "no" to runaway government spending and commitments that could lead America to financial ruin.
Yet Obama shows strong signs of being that once-in-a-generation leader who can inspire more people to say "yes" to a better world for our children and grandchildren.
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The Muskegon Chronicle has come out for Barack Obama:
The economic upheaval that has gripped Wall Street and shaken our financial system to its very underpinnings illustrates the great difference between the candidates. On one hand there have been the rash actions and hasty words of the senator from Arizona, who recklessly thrust himself into the midst of urgent and fragile banking and financial negotiations, endangering those crucial talks at a critical moment in a blatant attempt to puff up his faltering campaign.
Obama, by contrast, stayed calm and collected, emphasizing specific points that any rescue package must contain, such as protection for taxpayers, and the reimposition of strict federal oversight. Obama, in fact, has been a leading advocate for the regulation of Wall Street's businesses interests, whereas McCain and the Republican Party have championed letting the financial sector run wild to the public's detriment.
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The Lehigh Valley Express-Times has endorsed Barack Obama:
It's depressing to have to shape an editorial endorsement in these terms, given McCain's sacrifice in service to the country and his lengthy record in the U.S. Senate. Those experiences and accomplishments still speak loudly, but again -- it's the distracting noise the Republicans are generating that is blunting, even mocking, their claim to power.
Obama does not win this by default. He wins The Express-Times' endorsement because of his platform, because he has demonstrated a cool head in troubled times, because he inspires confidence and because he is conducting an above-board campaign.
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The Springfield News-Sun of Ohio says Barack Obama is our nation's best hope:
McCain has the risk-taking character of the attack jet pilot he was, someone who shoots from the hip. That's a good trait in a dogfight, not in the leader of America.
We've tried "Act now, think later" policies and they have not worked.
McCain is willing to admit mistakes and change course, unlike Bush. But rash mistakes made in the Oval Office can't always be corrected. Risk taking based on gut reaction is not a trait we need in a president.
Obama has been criticized for being young and relatively inexperienced.
Perhaps, but his decisions, including picking Joe Biden as his running mate, show maturity.
Moreover, he has quickly mastered the important issues confronting America. No one who listens to him can doubt that.
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Just so readers know, my links blog, Random Thoughts Links, has links to every single large newspaper in the United States, and most of the smaller papers. It takes a couple of hours to go through the whole list to find editorial endorsements, and not all of them are available online.
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