Early Voting & Newspaper Political Endorsements

Fellow Citizens:

Reminder! Early voting begins Mon, 10/20 and ends Fri, 10/31. Election Day is Tues, 11/4.

As per usual habit on Sundays, I checked out the Dallas Morning News, Section P "Points" (I’ve renamed Section P-U), and was not at all surprised to find that the News endorsed McCain with this tag: "We Recommend John McCain's experienced courage for president." The DMN has supported Republican candidates for as long as I can remember. For some reason I still take this paper mainly because I can't live without the crossword (Section @#&!) or the one section that is impossible to find and the Sunday "Target" advertisement. My Dallas news of choice, The Times Herald, tanked many years ago. Also, for the record
The Dallas Observer (free alternative news) has too many weird personal ads like toasters trying to hook up with blenders and so on...

Back to the DMN and its lame-o recommendation (I knew it was coming). Some editorial excerpts:

"Mr. McCain offers the continuity, stability and sense of authority people want..” (Continuity...just what we need),

"...voters aren't electing a debater-in-chief" (They know their man sucketh),

"As inspiring as Mr. Obama's history-making presidential bid has been, it is risky to take a chance on an untried leader at this point in our history" (what? IMO, Obama shows more leadership ability in his little finger)

…and now for the DMN "disclaimer"...

"To be sure, a McCain vote also involves an element of risk. His bellicose temperament causes concern, chiefly about his impulsive judgment.” (Ya think?).

“ If this election was about congeniality and cool, Mr. Obama would easily prevail." (Condescending much?)

"But electing the president is not a popularity contest." (Someone please inform Palin of this)

"Mr. McCain has better policies." (Choke)

"He has more experience. And he has proven independence of mind". (Yes, we know about all that Maverick stuff.)

"In these tough times, John McCain is the right man for America." (Of note: There was NO MENTION OF PALIN at all...chickens!)

Reading this got me wondering about other major newspaper endorsements in this really BIG RED state, so I searched and found the following:

Houston Chronicle : Obama (He'll need Harris County's large vote)
San Antonio EN : McCain (A military center)
Austin Am-State : Obama (A place for real independent thinkers!)
Fort Worth Star-T : I couldn't find an endorsement today (so what are they thinking in Cowtown?)
Waco Tribune : "Just Vote" is the message. Excerpt: "...so after long, even painful, deliberation, we have decided to side with neither Obama nor McCain" (I don’t know what to think about that!)
Bryan/College Station
Eagle : Obama! (I'm proud to be the sister of an Aggie!..Isn’t that a bumper sticker?)
Lufkin Daily News : Obama (Excerpt: "Another consideration is that we should elect a president whose vice president would be ready to lead if, heaven forbid, the president was to die in office. We think Joe Biden's experience overwhelms Sarah Palin's limited appeal as a candidate who would instill confidence during a national crisis. At the end of the day, it's about how you and your family will fare — while still caring how your neighbor and the needy guy down the block is doing.")
Lubbock News : McCain (No help from the academics at Texas Tech)
Amarillo : McCain (no surprise...the last time I was in Amarillo for mediation it was totally male-dominated and old school, and as flat as a pancake, to boot.)
Corpus Christi : McCain (obviously to much sand in their ears)
Beaumont Enterprise : McCain (I'll never understand Beaumont)
Galveston : Clinton (Bill)....joking....I couldn't find an endorsement but their obvious primary focus is recovery from Hurricane Ike.
El Paso Times : I couldn't find an endorsement but that city's newspaper reports that Obama is pulling away from McCain. Really?

An interesting note about Dallas (from D Magazine)...a poll of District 108, the wealthiest part of Dallas reports that Obama leads. “The suburban vote has been the core of Republican strength in Texas.” Does this mean that the DMN editors live in the burbs and not Highland Park?

Also of major significance, 7-Eleven's coffee cup poll reports Obama won by a landslide (even in Texas)…let’s hope there is some meaning other than people (hopefully registered voters) like their coffee in blue cups.

In that I just can't stop...I checked wikipedia and found that of 121 newspaper/publications countrywide, 95 endorsed Obama and 26 McCain. The New Yorker, Esquire and Rolling Stone endorse Obama. No surprises there.

A sample of city newspapers for Obama: Seattle, Miami, Atlanta, St. Louis, Chicago (both Sun Times and Tribune), Los Angeles, Kansas City, Cleveland, Toledo, Orlando, Lexington, Sarasota (hi Cass!) and Dayton, OH. I didn’t really check out northeast cities or those in clearly blue states but I think one paper in New Hampshire may have endorsed McCain.

I mention Dayton because I'm traveling there (today) and thought in my off hours I might try to rally some of those undecided OH voters. I read somewhere that the OH dilemna is McCain's too old and Obama's untested. I'm not sure how that is specific to OH but I say McCain's too old and too well tested on many issues. On second thought, I'll probably lock myself in my deserted downtown hotel room and watch "Dancing with the Stars" or maybe “Chuck.” I’m not sure I want to see Cloris Leachman lose her wig again.

The other big news is that former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorses Obama. Even bigger is that single women support Obama because he's way hotter.

Signing off. Thanks for reading. Wish me luck in Dayton and have a great week!

CitizenB