One Of The Few Real Surprises Of The Campaign: The Des Moines Register Endorses Mitt Romney

And smacks Obama around in the process.

A taste:

The president’s best efforts to resuscitate the stumbling economy have fallen short. Nothing indicates it would change with a second term in the White House.

The president’s prescription upon entering office was a dose of government stimulus, which was the right call because it put cash in the pockets of consumers, made investments in vital infrastructure and kept millions of teachers and police officers on the job.

That stimulus was necessary to bridge the nation from recession to recovery, but the time is past for more government stimulus.

Consumers must feel more confident about their own economic futures to begin spending on the products and services that power the economy. A renewed sense of confidence will spark renewed investment by American companies. Industry will return to full production and hiring will begin again.

That should come with Mitt Romney in the White House.

Newspaper endorsements don't really matter too much (if at all). The only way they have any impact is if they are a surprise. Here's the DMR's record via Slublog.

• 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson (D) - won
• 1968: Hubert Humphrey (D) - lost
• 1972: Richard Nixon (R) - won
• 1976: Jimmy Carter (D) - won
• 1980: Jimmy Carter (D) - lost
• 1984: Walter Mondale (D) - lost
• 1988: Michael Dukakis (D) - lost
• 1992: Bill Clinton (D) - won
• 1996: Bill Clinton (D) - won
• 2000: Al Gore (D) - lost
• 2004: John Kerry (D) - lost
• 2008: Barack Obama (D) - won

This isn't the yawner that the NY Times endorsing Obama is. Plenty of free and paid media mileage to be wrung out of this one.

Bonus fun: About 5 minutes before the endorsement hit, Obama's Iowa comms director tweeted this.

Considering today's @DMRegister editorial on Akin, Mourdock, and Romney's extreme position on womens health, hard to imagine DMR endorsement

posted by DrewM. at 08:19 PM

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