Editor & Publisher has been tracking endorsements of the presidential candidates, and as of noon on Sunday, Obama has a more than 3-to-1 lead over McCain, picking up more than 50 papers today. E&P will be updating all day, so follow the link, and feel free to add any unlisted endorsements you're aware of.
In a real shocker, two solid Bush papers in 2004, the Houston Chronicle and Austin American-Statesman, also came out for Obama today. So did the more traditionally Democratic the News & Observer in Raleigh and the Orlando Sentinel, both in key battleground states.
Conventional wisdom has been that endorsements don't count, but I suspect that it's different this time--that the lopsided endorsement count says something about a shift in the political currents. The crossover endorsements from traditional Conservative outlets can be seen as indicators of that transformational election that Obama talked about when he entered the race and was chided for invoking Reagan.
A few more comments over the fold.
In addition to the four papers cited in the intro, Obama's haul over the last 24 hours includes the Detroit Free Press, Buffalo News, Cleveland's Plain Dealer, Palm Beach (Fla.) Post, New York Daily News, Miami Herald, Philadelphia Inquirer, Portland's The Oregonian, Denver Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Salt Lake Tribune, Kansas City Star, and Chicago Sun-Times.
"The readership of the newspapers backing Obama now stands at over 10 million vs. McCain's just under 2.5 million." Roughly two dozen of these papers--almost 1/4 of them--endorsing Obama backed Bush 4 years ago.
And that's just the papers. Colin Powell, Chris Buckley, Wick Allison, Christopher Hitchens.... Sorry Freepers, but only one of them's black, so it can't all be reverse racism, because I'm pretty sure the latter three don't feel particularly guilty about the past. There's got to be something more at work here.
Something more than the breathtaking stupidity and heedless recklessness of McCain choosing Sarah Palin (although I've yet to see an Obama endorsement that doesn't mention it).
Something more than the crashing economy.
Our weather isn't the only climate that's changing.
Let's hear from Asbury Park, NJ -- made famous by Bruce Springsteen, but their Press backed Bush in 2004. Now they say:
Change is needed — badly. Since World War II, there has never been a greater need for leadership, for a president who can pull a deeply divided nation together, someone who can help restore our self-esteem at home and help repair our tattered reputation abroad. Democratic Sen. Barack Obama is better equipped than Republican Sen. John McCain to meet that challenge.
...
McCain has burned too many bridges to lead at home or in the international arena. His abrasiveness and that of running mate Sarah Palin during the debates, at their rallies and in their barrage of attack ads have been in sharp contrast to the respectful presidential manner of Obama.
That sound you hear is the distant drum calling America to wake up and come to its senses.