Idaho Statesman endorsement: America needs Obama's steady hand

[Newsjock]

Source: Idaho Statesman

Barack Obama soared to national prominence through the force of his remarkable oratory skills - the charisma and political rock-star appeal that attracted 14,169 people to Taco Bell Arena on a Saturday morning in February.

Over the ensuing months, the Illinois Democrat has shown American voters something more subtle, but something more important. He has demonstrated the superior intellect and the calm command our nation needs now.

The Statesman editorial board endorses Obama in the 2008 presidential election.

This is not an obvious choice for a newspaper in a historically Republican state. Nor was it a unanimous choice. But we have to think about what's best for our nation, which is facing challenging and confusing times that call for even-tempered, clear-minded leadership. When the partisanship of this election finally subsidies, Obama is the man who can reach reasoned conclusions, reach across the political divides, and reach out to the common American.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/106/story/542582.html

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. IDAHO???

[Indiana_Dem]

2. Wow! iDaHo!? --and Powell endorsement?

I've got my mojo back for when I go canvassing at noon (in this red area, no doubt!)

[MaineDem]

3. Holy shit! Idaho???

And Utah. Wow!

[dpbrown]

4. Idaho?

Holy mountain shacks, Batman!

[nichomachus]

5. Latest list of newspaper endorsements -- 76-19

Here is the latest chart of dailies. As always, we include in brackets who the paper went with in 2004 with B=Bush and K=Kerry.
*

BARACK OBAMA
76 newspapers total
Over 10 million circulation (we are still counting)

ARKANSAS
Arkansas Times (K): 34,000

CALIFORNIA
The Argus (Fremont) (K): 26,749
Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek) (K): 183,086
Daily Review (Hayward) (K): 30,704
The Fresno Bee (K): 150,334
La Opinion (Los Angeles) (K): 114,892
Los Angeles Times (N/A): 773,884
The Modesto Bee (K): 78,001
The Monterey County Herald (K): 28,933
Oakland Tribune (K): 96,535
The (Stockton) Record (B): 57,486
The Sacramento Bee (K): 288,755
San Bernardino Sun (B): 54,315
San Francisco Chronicle (K): 370,345
San Jose Mercury News (K): 234,772
San Mateo County Times (K): 25,982
Santa Cruz Sentinel (K): 23,290
Tri-Valley Herald (B): 29,759

COLORADO
Cortez Journal (K): 6,700
The Denver Post (B)
The Durango Herald (K): 8,870
Gunnison Country Times (N/A): 4,000
Ouray County Plaindealer (K): 3,000

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The Washington Post (K): 673,180

FLORIDA
Miami Herald (K):
Naples Daily-News (B)
Orlando Sentinel (K):

GEORGIA
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (K)

HAWAII
Honolulu Star-Bulletin (K): 64,305

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune (B): 541,663
Chicago Sun-Times (K):
Southwest News-Herald (K)

IOWA
The Storm Lake Times (K): 3,200

MAINE
Bangor Daily News (K)
Brunswick Times-Record (K)

MASSACHUSETTS
The Boston Globe (K): 350,605
The Standard-Times (New Bedford) (K): 30,306

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press (K):
The Muskegon Chronicle (K): 41,114

MISSOURI
Kansas City Star
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (K): 255,057

NEW MEXICO
Las Cruces Sun-News (B)
Santa Fe New Mexican (K): 25,249

NEW YORK
The Daily News (B)
el Diario: 53,856

NORTH CAROLINA
Asheville Citizen-Times (K): 50,160
News & Observer (Raleigh) (K)
Wilmington Star-News (K)

OHIO
The (Toledo) Blade (K): 119,901
Dayton Daily News (K): 116,690
The (Canton) Repository (B): 65,789
Springfield News-Sun (K): 24,684
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland)

OREGON
Mail Tribune (Medford) (K): 30,349
The Oregonian of Portland (K)
Yamhill Valley News-Register

PENNSYLVANIA
The Express-Times (Easton) (B): 44,561
Philadelphia Inquirer (K):
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (K): 214,374

TENNESSEE
Chattanooga Times (K): 71,716
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) (K): 146,961
The (Nashville) Tennessean (K): 161,131

TEXAS
Austin American-Statesman (B)
Houston Chronicle (B)
The Lufkin Daily News (K): 12,225

UTAH
The Salt Lake Tribune (B):

VIRGINIA
Falls Church News-Press (K): 30,500

WASHINGTON
The Columbian (B): 44,623
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (K): 129,563
The Seattle Times (K): 220,883
Yakima Herald-Republic (B)

WEST VIRGINIA
The Charleston Gazette (K): 48,061
Huntington Herald-Dispatch (K)

WISCONSIN
The Capital Times (Madison) (K): 16,335
Wisconsin State Journal (Madison) (B): 87,930


JOHN McCAIN
19newspapers total
About 2 million daily circulation

CALIFORNIA
Napa Valley Register: 16,283
The San Francisco Examiner (B): 80,000

COLORADO
Mountain Valley News (Cedaredge): 2,000
The Daily Sentinel (Grand Junction) (B): 31,349
The Pueblo Chieftain (B): 49,169

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
The Washington DC Examiner (N/A): 100,073

FLORIDA
Tampa Tribune

MARYLAND
The Baltimore Examiner (N/A): 50,000

MASSACHUSETTS
Boston Herald (B): 182,350
The (Lowell) Sun (B): 44,439

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Foster’s Daily Democrat (B): 22,547
Union Leader (Manchester) (B): 51,782

NEW YORK
New York Post (B): 702,488

OHIO
The (Findlay) Courier (B): 22,319

TEXAS
Amarillo Globe-News (B): 44,764
Dallas Morning News (B):
San Antonio Express-News

WASHINGTON
(Spokane) Spokesman-Review (B): 89,779

WEST VIRGINIA
Wheeling News-Register (B): 12,821

[Canuckistanian]

6. 62% for McCain Idaho?

I think the Idaho Statesman's editorial board is in for some nasty letters and probably worse.

Still, good to see the tide turning ANYWHERE.

[Zambero]

10. That poll is outdated and was probably incorrect anyway

Obama has a lot of support here. Idaho gave Obama the most lopsided delegate count of any state. And he drew a turnaway arena crowd of 14,000+ in Boise earlier in the year. Obama yard signs & bumper sticker sightings are light years ahead of McCain's, even though they've been disappearing at an alarming rate. So I don't buy any 2+ to 1 margin poll. having said that, McCain WILL win the state, but Obama stands to get at least 40%. And I look for our Democratic 1st Congressional District candidate Walt Minnick to send wingnut Bill Sali packing.

[Canuckistanian]

16. You're right. The latest poll is from Sept. 17th

According to EV, the last Idaho poll is Research 2000 and the previous is from August.

Why aren't there more recent polls?

[astroBspacedog]

7. I live in Idaho-

and read The Idaho Statesmen every day. I'm not surprised over the endorsement and I really look forward to reading the letters to the editor this week. I'm sure it will compete with the DU Hate Mail Bag.

[Frank Cannon]

8. Will miracles never cease

Seriously, I don't think it's possible to even write an editorial endorsing McCain without looking ridiculous.

[Hope And Change]

9. K & R!

[IDemo]

11. The letters to the editor have been favoring Obama for some time now

Although you can always count on seeing at least one RW flake per day in the letters, most have been pro-Obama. As few yard signs and bumper stickers as I have seen, most again are Obama/Biden. But Boise is a blue/purple area in a neon red state.

It was very easy to believe on the night of our "raucus caucus" that we would change the color on the map this time, but likely not.

[bkkyosemite]

12. I lived in Boise in the mid 90's and just moved from Coeur d'Alene Idaho in June to Oregon and

when I was cruzing DU this morning I stopped adbruptly when I saw this. This is saying something for Idaho. I was shocked and very surprised that the paper would make this statement. Good for them. Southern Idaho is made up of a lot of people from Utah another red state but the Northern Panhandle i.e. Coeur d'Alene has many from California who are living there now.

Well maybe it will start turning purple there. However I would not hold my breath as the farmers of long ago still have a strong hold on the capitol of Boise. Although I was able to start the ball rolling to get a law enacted which took 10 years because of the state's businesses not wanting change...turning blue would be a shock but this is a start.

[IDemo]

13. The Statesman did endorse John Kerry in '04 as well n/t

[IDemo]

14. dupt post

[JimDandy]

15. This is simply stunning!

Unfortunately, Idaho voters won't vote for Obama. Too many racist LDS populate the southern part of the state and the rural towns.