Washington Post Endorses Kerry
by ChrisOctober 24th, 2004 2:55 am
This is surely one of the most wishy washy endorsements I’ve seen all year. Basicaly, we don’t think much of this Kerry guy but Bush is kind of a mess, if a resolute mess.
I wonder if endorsements really mean all that much anyway. I use them myself when considering local elections for offices like sherrif, common pleas judges and various other offices where there are no real campaigns to speak of and very litttle in the way of objective analysis. I guess I go on some sort of blind faith that the editorial board has been able to find out something about these people and their qualifications and has made a rational decision to endorse. For offices like President, Govenor, Senetor, Mayor, Congressperson or state Representative, I’ve always made my decision without regards for what any editioral board has to say as there is more that enough information to make a reasonalby informed choice. My guess is that the great majority of voters probably do the same.
The one place where it could make a difference, of course, is in the tone of the campaign narative. It would probably be pretty devistating to a chanenger if no major newspaper editorial board endorsed them, espesialy if the chalenger is a Democrat. The myth of a liberal media is alive and well after all.
