As I noted in the Night Owls post Friday, the view of many people who've studied the matter believe newspaper candidate endorsements, especially for president, are not very influential. Many people are unable to say who their local newspaper endorsed. A poll of Kossacks found a fourth of respondents saying they don't even read their local newspaper and, given the statistics over the past three decades, it's clear that more than a few other Americans have followed suit.

Nonetheless, many newspapers continue to endorse candidates for the presidency, although a growing number of larger ones only endorse state and local candidates.



The day before the election in 2004, Greg Mitchell, who then worked for the newspaper trade journal Editor and Publisher, had tallied 273 newspaper endorsements for John Kerry to George W. Bush's 205. The day before the election in 2008, 273 newspapers had endorsed Barack Obama, against 172 for John McCain. Among the 123 members of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies , 57 had endorsed Obama; zero McCain.

Below the fold you can see what the endorsement list looks like so far this year. A • means the newspaper changed parties in its endorsement for president this year compared with 2008. A ° means the newspaper didn't endorse any presidential candidate in 2008.

Please add to the list any endorsements you know of that haven't been included.

(Please continue reading below the fold)