Posted on 10/23/2004 7:24:17 PM PDT by Cableguy
E&P has learned that two major newspapers, both in the stable of William Dean Singleton, will do "flip-flops" on Sunday: the Denver Post, which backed Al Gore in 2000, will endorse President George Bush, while the Los Angeles Daily News, which backed Bush in 2000, will come out for Kerry.
This reflects Singleton's stated avowal that local papers in his MediaNews empire can make up their own minds on endorsements. Singleton is known to be a strong supporter of Bush. The fact that he has become publisher of the Post probably explains it's change of heart since 2000. But this gives the president both major papers in Denver in the key swing state of Colorado.
The Los Angeles Daily News endorsement of Kerry is a surprise for this moderate to conservative paper. It has added impact, as the Los Angeles Times once again is not endorsing a candidate. However, California is a safe state for Kerry.
Kerry picked up three other papers from the Bush 2000 column on Saturday with the endorsement of the Iowa City Press-Citizen, the Wausau (Wisc.) Daily Herald, and the Bangor (Maine) Daily News, each in a battleground state.
This means he has picked up 14 Bush papers from 2000, while losing only two Gore papers to Bush.
As E&P reported Friday, Kerry will also gain the backing of Newsday (Melville, N.Y.) on Sunday. He also picked up The Journal Times in Racine, Wisconsin, and The Journal Gazette in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Bush, however, did retain the Austin American-Statesman in his native Texas, the Cincinnati Post (the smaller of that city's two papers) and the Daily News-Record in Harrisonburg, Va.
Kerry now leads Bush 64-57 in endorsements and by about 9.6 million to 6.6 million in circulation of backing papers.
Meanwhile, E&P has learned from several sources at the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the paper's nine-person editorial board decided earlier this week that it wanted to endorse Kerry but Publisher Alex Machaskee, who has final say, has decided on Bush. The paper backed Bush in 2000.
This has caused consternation in some quarters at the Plain Dealer, with sources telling E&P that the endorsement editorial, which was expected to run Sunday, was put off.
LA paper doesn't matter. Small circulation, and CA is in the bag for Kerry anyway.
So, both the Denver papers are backing Bush.
Add Washington Post for Kerry
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A57584-2004Oct23.html
I had to stop reading their endorsement after they referred to Kerry's resume as a strength. The man's resume is a complete blank, except for of course Viet Nam, which they refuse to cover.
I'm still not understanding this. What difference does it make who a paper endorses? Does anyone base his or her vote on which candidate any newspaper endorses? Do we have any statistics that show that a newspaper endorsement can influence anyone or anything? Somehow, to me this smacks of the MSM engaged once again in self-delusion about its own importance.
Our local paper in my county just endorsed GWB for POTUS! I emailed Mr. Mitchell, the author of the article, to let him know. With a circulation of about 5000, I bet that will cut in the Kerry circulation lead. :)
I really did email him about our paper. If I see it listed......????????
I can't imagine this happening. The Post is a constant shill for every moonbat left-wing idiocy. Today's edition, for example, had front page articles that were designed to push young and minority voters to the polls. "The bad economy lead Maria to register for the first time. Will she vote? 'Oh yes,' says Maria . . . " crap.
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