By: Greg Mitchell Long before election day on Nov. 4, Barack Obama rocked the vote ? of editorial pages around the country. Maintaining a tradition that stretches back decades, E&P maintained a daily tally of endorsements by daily newspapers large and small, and the final tally stood at Obama 287 and McCain 159. This was startling (yet anticipated the eventual verdict by the voters) because just four years ago, John Kerry barely edged George W. Bush by 213-205.
For even greater context, we dug up the results of our tallies going back to 1940. Those showed that an overwhelming number of papers almost always favored the GOP candidate for president (even over FDR in wartime).
The problem for McCain was that dozens of papers that backed Bush in 2004, including three of the five biggest ones in deep-red Texas (in Houston, Austin, and Fort Worth), switched sides this time. The Chicago Tribune backed the Democrat for the first time in its history. The Los Angeles Times was inspired to make its first endorsement for president since Nixon (and also picked Obama). And so on.
But some longtime E&P readers might be more interested in previous tabulations.
From 1940 to 1960, the Republican candidate carried the editorial pages by about 4-1. A Democrat, Lyndon Johnson, finally won in '64, but barely edged Barry Goldwater 42% to 35%. Then, returning to form, Richard Nixon topped Hubert Humphrey by 4-1 in 1968, and George McGovern 14-1 in 1972 (just as Watergate emerged). Gerald Ford blasted Jimmy Carter 5-1. Ronald Reagan beat Carter by 3-1, then topped Walter Mondale 6-1. George H.W. Bush bombed Michael Dukakis 4-1. Bill Clinton earned a slight nod over Bush in 1992, then lost this race to Bob Dole in 1996.
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