Filed under 2012 Election
In 2008, most newspapers readily endorsed then Senator Barack Obama. Now a number of those same newspapers are abandoning their hero of four years ago and turning their endorsements to Republican Mitt Romney.
Perhaps the largest coup of Romney’s new found friends is the Des Moines Register. Iowa is one of the key swing states that both candidates have been actively courting. The Des Moines Register is the largest newspaper in the Hawkeye state. In 2008, Obama carried Iowa with a 54% to 45% margin. The Quad City Times from Davenport, Iowa, has also switched from Obama to Romney. The endorsements of Romney by both newspapers could have a definite effect in this year’s election and just may be enough to swing the state to Romney’s favor by a narrow margin, giving him 6 Electoral College votes that went to Obama in 2008.
In Florida, at least five newspapers that endorsed Obama in 2008 have also switched their endorsements to Mitt Romney. Those newspapers include the Orlando Sentinel, Pensacola News Journal, Florida Today, Naples Daily News and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Once again this was a state that Obama won in 2008 by a narrow 51% to 49% margin. A week before the election, Florida’s 29 Electoral votes (that went to Obama last time) are still a toss-up. As more Florida newspapers turn from Obama and endorse Romney, they just may be enough to swing the state over to Romney.
Nevada, another swing state and home to Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, is another swing state with 6 Electoral College votes that is still considered to be a toss-up. In 2008, Obama won the state by a 55% to 43% margin. In Reid’s home turf, the Reno Gazette-Journal is another newspaper that turned from its 2008 endorsement of Obama to throw their endorsement to Mitt Romney.
Other newspapers in states like New York, California, Illinois and Texas that endorsed Obama in 2008 have been switching their endorsements to Romney. The question is, will it be enough to help push Romney over the edge
