Choosing Up Sides

I posted my prediction for the presidential election a couple of days ago. Included in my post were dozens of links to newspaper endorsements of either Barack Obama or John McCain.

Endorsements continue to come in, and, although most of the news has been good for the Obama campaign, McCain has been receiving more endorsements in the South lately — dampening earlier enthusiasm that suggested Obama would be in position to win Southern states that haven't voted for a Democrat in more than a generation.

For example, McCain has been endorsed lately by:

• The Albany (Ga.) Herald, which endorsed Bush last time.


• The Marietta (Ga.) Daily Journal, which endorsed no one last time.


• The Knoxville (Tenn.) News Sentinel, which endorsed Bush in 2004.


• The Galveston County (Texas) Daily News, which endorsed no one in 2004.

Outside the South, McCain has picked up a few endorsements, here and there:

• The Twin Falls (Idaho) Times-News, which supported Bush in 2004, and


• the Willoughby (Ohio) News-Herald, which also endorsed Bush last time.

But the editorial momentum has been with Obama in this election campaign:

• The Lafayette (Ind.) Journal and Courier.


• The Portland (Maine) Press-Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram.


• The Cape Cod Times.


• The Joplin (Mo.) Globe.


• The Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator.

And I'm particularly glad to be seeing editorial activity from the college newspapers:

• The University of California-Santa Barbara Daily Nexus.


• The University of California-Berkeley Daily Californian.


• The Columbia University Daily Spectator.


• The University of South Carolina's Daily Gamecock.


• The University of Tennessee-Martin Pacer.


• Southern Methodist University's Daily Campus.


• Bates College's The Bates Student.


• Davidson College's The Davidsonian.


• The Slippery Rock University Rocket.


• The Miami University (Ohio) Miami Student.


• The University of Michigan-Dearborn Michigan Journal.


• And I located that editorial in the Duke Chronicle to which I referred in my presidential prediction post.

Elections are about everyone's needs. Young people need to be involved, and their school newspapers can play a valuable role in motivating them to participate.

"Without a journal, you cannot unite a community," Gandhi said, and I've always believed he was right.

But I also believe Michael Graham when he writes, in the Boston Herald, that objective journalism has been the loser in this year's election.

On both sides of the political spectrum.

And, as a lifelong advocate of a free press, I am saddened by that development.