Wow. Sarah Palin couldn’t even convince her own state’s number one newspaper — The Anchorage Daily News — that she and McCain have the answers for this country. That’s pretty bad, but completely understandable — and 100% correct! While praising Palin’s energy and bright future, the Anchorage paper’s editorial today added:

Sen. McCain describes himself as a maverick, by which he seems to mean that he spent 25 years trying unsuccessfully to persuade his own party to follow his bipartisan, centrist lead. Sadly, maverick John McCain didn’t show up for the campaign. Instead we have candidate McCain, who embraces the extreme Republican orthodoxy he once resisted and cynically asks Americans to buy for another four years.

It is Sen. Obama who truly promises fundamental change in Washington. You need look no further than the guilt-by-association lies and sound-bite distortions of the degenerating McCain campaign to see how readily he embraces the divisive, fear-mongering tactics of Karl Rove. And while Sen. McCain points to the fragile success of the troop surge in stabilizing conditions in Iraq, it is also plain that he was fundamentally wrong about the more crucial early decisions. Contrary to his assurances, we were not greeted as liberators; it was not a short, easy war; and Americans — not Iraqi oil — have had to pay for it. It was Sen. Obama who more clearly saw the danger ahead.

The unqualified endorsement of Sen. Obama by a seasoned, respected soldier and diplomat like Gen. Colin Powell, a Republican icon, should reassure all Americans that the Democratic candidate will pass muster as commander in chief.

Furthermore:

Yet despite her formidable gifts, few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful nation on earth. To step in and juggle the demands of an economic meltdown, two deadly wars and a deteriorating climate crisis would stretch the governor beyond her range. Like picking Sen. McCain for president, putting her one 72-year-old heartbeat from the leadership of the free world is just too risky at this time. (read it in its entirety here)

OUCH!

The Huffington Post states:

My magazine, Editor & Publisher, has been charting all of the editorial endorsements around the country and Obama now leads by a whopping 160 to 59. More than 35 papers have switched from Bush to Obama. The latest major papers to flip: The Providence Journal and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram today in Texas. That, amazingly, gives Obama three of the five major papers in that state, with the Houston and Austin papers earlier flipping their support from Bush to Obama.

Just today Obama picked up the backing of (besides the papers listed above) the Baltimore Sun, St. Petersburg Times, Des Moines Register, Charlotte Observer, Hartford Courant, Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and many, many others. McCain held on to his home state Arizona Republic and papers in Richmond and Cincinnati.

In a nutshell: The Indianapolis Star, which backed Bush the last time, decided not to endorse anyone. The Times-Picayune, which also sat out 2004, endorsed Obama today.

In fact, a Democratic candidate for president has never done this well with editorial endorsements. E&P reviewed our tallies since 1940 and in that time only LBJ in ‘64, Bill Clinton in 1992 and John Kerry last year earned the most backing, and in the last two cases, just barely.

In fact, Obama has carried at least 9 out of 10 major metros, including both dailies in Chicago, Seattle and Los Angeles. He is even winning the majority of papers in Red states.

Right on! The majority of Americans, as well as the majority of publications in America, can see clearly and decisively that Barack Obama is the absolute best person for the job of President!

Too bad The Anchorage Daily News felt they had to praise Palin as much as they did, but I’m sure they thought it would only be right to throw her a bone. ;)

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