As I noted in the Night Owls post Friday, the view of many people who've studied the matter believe newspaper candidate endorsements, especially for president, are not very influential. Many people are unable to say who their local newspaper endorsed. A poll of Kossacks found a fourth of respondents saying they don't even read their local newspaper and, given the statistics over the past three decades, it's clear that more than a few other Americans have followed suit.
Nonetheless, many newspapers continue to endorse candidates for the presidency, although a growing number of larger ones only endorse state and local candidates.
The day before the election in 2004, Greg Mitchell, who then worked for the newspaper trade journal
Editor and Publisher, had tallied 273 newspaper endorsements for John Kerry to George W. Bush's 205. The day before the election in 2008, 273 newspapers had endorsed Barack Obama, against 172 for John McCain. Among the 123 members of the
Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, 57 had endorsed Obama; zero McCain.
Below the fold you can see what the endorsement list looks like so far this year. A • means the newspaper changed parties in its endorsement for president this year compared with 2008. A ° means the newspaper didn't endorse any presidential candidate in 2008.
Please add to the list any endorsements you know of that haven't been included.
(Please continue reading below the fold)
Barack Obama
Arizona Daily Star (Arizona)
Arkansas Times (Arkansas)
The Sacramento Bee (California)
San Francisco Examiner (California) •
Los Angeles Times (California)
dThe Riverside County Record (California)
Independent Coast Observer (California)
Santa Barbara Independent (California)
Durango Herald (Colorado)
The Denver Post (Colorado)
Daily Camera (Colorado)
Aurora Sentinel (Colorado)
New Haven Register (Connecticut)
The Tampa Bay Times (Florida)
The Messenger (Kentucky)
Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan)
The Flint Journal (Michigan)
Muskegon Chronicle (Michigan)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (Missouri)
Lincoln Journal Star (Nebraska) •
Montclair Times (New Jersey)
Star Ledger (New Jersey)
Las Cruces Sun-News (New Mexico)
Santa Fe New Mexican (New Mexico)
Las Cruces Sun-News (New Mexico)
Las Vegas Sun (Nevada)
Asheville Citizen Times (North Carolina)
The Winston-Salem Journal (North Carolina) •
Charlotte Observer (North Carolina)
Akron Beacon Journal (Ohio)
Cleveland Plain Dealer (Ohio)
Daily Astorian (Oregon)
Eugene Weekly (Oregon)
The Philadelphia Inquirer (Pennsylvania)
San Antonio Express-News (Texas) •
Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)
The Charleston Gazette (West Virginia)
The Glenville Democrat (West Virginia)
The Glenville Pathfinder (West Virginia)
The Herald (Washington)
The Seattle Times (Washington)
The Capital Times (Wisconsin)
Mitt Romney
Arizona Republic (Arizona)
Casa Grande Dispatch (Arizona)
Arkansas Times (Arkansas)
North County Times (California)
San Diego Union-Tribune (California)
The Daily Sentinel (Colorado)
The Pueblo Chieftain (Colorado)
Longmont Times-Call (Colorado)
Loveland Reporter-Herald (Colorado)
Colorado Springs Gazette (Colorado) °
The Orlando Sentinel (Florida) •
Cherokee Tribune (Georgia)
Eagle Tribune (Massachusetts)
Royal Oak Daily Tribune (Michigan) •
Billings Gazette (Montana)
Omaha World Herald (Nebraska)
Newman Grove Reporter (Nebraska)
Las Vegas Review-Journal (Nevada)
Reno Gazette Journal (Nevada) •
The New York Observer (New York) •
The Bismarck Tribune (North Dakota)
The Buckeye Lake Beacon (North Dakota)
Minot Daily News (North Dakota)
Union-Leader (New Hampshire)
Columbus Dispatch (Ohio)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Pennsylvania)
The Tennessean (Nashville) •
The Dallas Morning News (Texas)
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
Houston Chronicle (Texas) •
The Lufkin Daily News (Texas)
The Winchester Star (Virginia)
Wheeling News-Register (West Virginia)
The Intelligencer of Wheeling (West Virginia)
The Journal of Martinsburg (West Virginia)
Weirton Daily Times (West Virginia)
Parkersburg News and Sentinel (West Virginia)
The Inter-Mountain in Elkins (West Virginia)
Spokesman Review (Washington)
The Vancouver Columbian (Washington) •
Star-Tribune (Wyoming)
Gary Johnson
Saint Joseph Telegraph (Missouri) °