Newspaper Endorsements

I was not very surprised to see that the Birmingham News endorsed John McCain yesterday. Nor was I when I opened the Decatur Daily and found their endorsement of Barack Obama. So my curiosity would have led me to try and determine what other Alabama newspapers had done when I received an email on my blackberry from Wade who had already done the work, Alabama Newspapers Endorse Obama by 2 - 1 Margin (there you can read what the various editors had to say).

The list:

For McCain: The Birmingham News, The Mobile Press Register.

For Obama: The Decatur Daily, The Talladega Daily Home, The Montgomery Advertiser, The Florence Times Daily, The Tuscaloosa News*.

Notice that several of those endorsements are from small town papers. And remember Sarah Palin tried to claim small towns in spite of what they sometimes represent.

Obama's total for newspaper endorsements is over 173.

I really liked this one, though. Anchorage Daily News - Obama for President.

It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. And while Sen. McCain points to the fragile success of the troop surge in stabilizing conditions in Iraq, it is also plain that he was fundamentally wrong about the more crucial early decisions. Contrary to his assurances, we were not greeted as liberators; it was not a short, easy war; and Americans -- not Iraqi oil -- have had to pay for it. It was Sen. Obama who more clearly saw the danger ahead.

The unqualified endorsement of Sen. Obama by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief.

And on governor Palin:

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time.

Three days and counting. Oh, I'm voting absentee on Thursday, probably. I might be going to a swing state to help get out the vote. Eight days for the rest of you.

* I hope Bill Maher sees this. On Real Time Friday night he challenged Tuscaloosa not to vote for McCain, saying Tuscaloosa is the least likely place to vote for Obama. We will see.