Picking a President: Six Major Papers Choose

By: E&P Staff Three more important news papers today endorsed Sen. John Kerry, who has been on a roll this weekend in E&P's exclusive daily tabulation of newspapers throwing their support to a candidate in the hard-fought race for the White House.

The largest papers in three swing states endorsed Kerry today: the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Portland Press Herald in Maine.

Yesterday Kerry picked up the backing of three other large papers: The Oregonian in the other Portland (which backed President Bush in 2000), The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Bush notched no major endorsements this weekend (that we are aware of), and the current official E&P count stands at ten papers for Kerry and five for Bush, with Kerry holding about a 5-1 advantage in the circulation of the newspapers backing him. (If you know of any endorsements published this weekend but not included here, please write to: letters@editorandpublisher.com)

Today's Inquirer pick gives Kerry both major papers in Philadelphia, with the Daily News having endorsed him back in June.

In its editorial today, the Inquirer calls its recommendation "urgent, deeply felt." It attacks Bush's presidency as one that started with "high promise that lapsed into multiple disasters." Among those disasters: running up the deficit and a response to the 9/11 attacks that has "gone fatefully awry," leaving Americans "less safe."

It concluded: "John Kerry isn't perfect. He has things to learn. One thing Americans should have learned by now, though, is that the incumbent lacks the realism, judgment and ability to adjust to events that the United States needs in its commander in chief. In this perilous moment, the safer choice, the wiser choice, is John F. Kerry."

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch declared, "President George W. Bush has not earned re-election. He has mishandled the war on terrorism, shut his eyes to disagreeable facts, left the next generation in hock and presided over a sharp loss in jobs, health insurance and prosperity for millions of Americans."

In its editorial today, the daily in Portland, Maine -- the largest in that state -- said, "it is because we believe Kerry has, on the whole, the better plan for America that we endorse him for President of the United States."

After mentioning several areas where Kerry had the edge, the paper highlighted one issue not often discussed in endorsement editorials.

"With four members of the U.S. Supreme Court over the age of 70, the next president is likely to have the opportunity to shape its ideological framework for years to come," the Press Herald wrote. "This has many implications and one issue especially stands out: President Bush is committed to appointing justices willing to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that underpins abortion rights.

"Reversal of Roe would harm the reproductive rights of women, of course, but could also drive abortion services underground, making it unsafe for those who choose exercise this right. The person best qualified to decide whether to have an abortion is the woman who is pregnant. The candidate most likely to protect that right to choose is Kerry."