For the first time since the Grant administration, the
Chicago Tribune has endorsed a Democratic candidate in a Presidential election.
But, I hear you saying, there isn't a Presidential election this year, or next year either. No matter.
Follow me below for the explanation
Matthew V. Santos for president
Over the decades, readers have come to expect consistency from Chicago Tribune endorsements in presidential elections. That has delighted some people and infuriated others. After we backed the re-election of George W. Bush last year, one irate letter writer complained that Mickey Mouse would get the Tribune endorsement if he were the Republican candidate for president.
That's a little harsh, but it has been a spell since we favored a Democratic presidential contender--Horace Greeley over Republican Ulysses S. Grant in 1872. (We also endorsed Teddy Roosevelt, then of the Bull Moose Party, in 1912.)
The Tribune urges the election of Democrat Matthew V. Santos as president of the United States.
OK, so maybe there really isn't an imminent election and maybe there really isn't a Matthew V. Santos
Fans of "The West Wing," the long-running NBC series that dramatizes life behind the scenes at the White House, have been glued to a plot line this season about the campaign to succeed fictional two-term incumbent Jed Bartlet. It pits Democrat Santos, a congressman, against Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick.
In our humble opinion, it was the biggest moment in the history of imaginary news since 1948, when a Midwestern newspaper--memory fails us as to which one--reported that Thomas E. Dewey had defeated President Harry Truman.
-dms