I'm generally skeptical of newspaper endorsements, but this could be pretty big win for Newt Gingrich: the endorsement of New Hampshire's leading conservative editorial page,
The Union Leader.
Their case for Gingrich:
America is at a crucial crossroads. It is not going to be enough to merely replace Barack Obama next year. We are in critical need of the innovative, forward-looking strategy and positive leadership that Gingrich has shown he is capable of providing.
The Union Leader is influential among conservatives not just in New Hampshire, but also nationwide. And while it has made some laughable endorsements—Steve Forbes in 2000, for example—it endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1980 and John McCain in 2008. Dave Weigel elaborates:
The Union Leader's endorsement is only partly predictive of who will win the nomination. It went for Ronald Reagan in 1976, when he narrowly lost, and in 1980 when he won. It went for Pierre DuPont in 1988; no one has figured that one out. It endorsed Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996, both insurgent runs, and he actually won the second. It endorsed Steve Forbes in 2000. There are really two kinds of Union Leader endorsements -- the ones that salute a candidate with an idea, and the ones that train guns on a candidate the paper can't stand. This endorsement blends the two instincts. The only good it does Romney, I guess, is that for the first time since he lost to McCain, he can claim to be a sort of underdog. That's nuts, and it's based on vapor, but what isn't?
If I were Mitt Romney, I'd be freaked out by this endorsement and here's why: for the first time, a real heavyweight in Republican politics has unequivocally put its muscle behind a single Not Romney. And given that Mitt Romney's path to the nomination depends on dividing the Republican field, the potential emergence of a single opponent is a scary prospect indeed.