More Newspaper Endorsements

Here's an updated list of newspaper endorsements (Kerry now leads Bush 125-96 in endorsements leads by about 16 million to 10 million in total daily circulation.) While the actual effect of endorsements is uncertain, I'm constantly impressed by the continuous flow of papers that endorsed Bush in 2000 that are refusing to do so this year, a phenomenon that I think reflects a larger disillusionment among those on the right and the middle with this president. Most of these newspapers (32 now) are endorsing Kerry (while only two have switched from Gore in 2000 to Bush in 2004) and several are withholding an endorsement altogether.

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. The Chicago Sun-Times, the Daily News in Los Angeles, the Orlando Sentinel, and The Commercial-Appeal in Memphis, Tenn., were among the papers that backed Bush in 2000 but today chose Kerry.

While it may come as no shock to some that Kerry also received an endorsement from The Washington Post, it should be noted that they were supportive of Bush's war and actually "find much to admire" in Bush. They seem to have been the newspaper equivalent of an undecided voter, but in the end:

On balance, though, we believe Mr. Kerry, with his promise of resoluteness tempered by wisdom and open-mindedness, has staked a stronger claim on the
nation's trust to lead for the next four years.