Des Moines Register endorses… Mitt Romney. (Includes rare Moe Lane apology!)

I so totally did not see this one coming.  I admit it: I am quite often wrong.  So. Um.  Sorry about the entire “cower like a whipped dog” thing, Des Moines Register:

The Register endorsement: Mitt Romney offers a fresh economic vision

…The Register’s editorial board, as it should, had a vigorous debate over this endorsement. Our discussion repeatedly circled back to the nation’s single most important challenge: pulling the economy out of the doldrums, getting more Americans back in the workforce in meaningful jobs with promising futures, and getting the federal government on a track to balance the budget in a bipartisan manner that the country demands.

Which candidate could forge the compromises in Congress to achieve these goals? When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the stronger candidate.

Bet Barack Obama wishes I hadn’t been wrong this time, huh?

Moe Lane

PS: What, you want a response from me on the endorsement?  OK:

There you go.

9 thoughts on “Des Moines Register endorses… Mitt Romney. (Includes rare Moe Lane apology!)”

  1. Moe, this endorsement is a Signal. It is not your average endorsement.

    Iowa is going to go red, and so will some other states no one suspects.

    Blowout.

  2. DMR had no choice. They chided Obama for doing the interview off the record, but nowhere did they say “We call on the President to release the interview transcript.” They probably didn’t want the transcript released because the interview consisted of DMR fawning over BHO. How embarrassing! This was the only way for DMR to salvage an ounce of credibility.

    But, I’ll take it.

  3. More impressively, as they list in the bottom of the editorial, it’s been exactly 40 years since the Register endorsed a Republican for President (Nixon in 1972) And given all the disclaimers, they must really be unhappy with Obama.

    REGISTER ENDORSEMENTS FROM THE PAST

    Here are the presidential candidates The Des Moines Register endorsed in each election in the past 100 years:
    • 1912: William H. Taft (R) – lost
    • 1916: Charles Hughes (R) – lost
    • 1920: No endorsement
    • 1924: No endorsement
    • 1928: Herbert Hoover (R) – won
    • 1932: Herbert Hoover (R) – lost
    • 1936: Alf Landon (R) – lost
    • 1940: Wendell Willkie (R) – lost
    • 1944: Thomas E. Dewey (R) – lost
    • 1948: Thomas E. Dewey (R) – lost
    • 1952: Dwight Eisenhower (R) – won
    • 1956: Dwight Eisenhower (R) – won
    • 1960: Richard Nixon (R) – lost
    • 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

  4. I agree. This is flat out huge. Iowa – and the DMR have been the center of the universe for fledgling presidential campaigns since 1976.

    if you read the full endorsement – and the reasoning for it – it is devastating to obama. would make a great full page ad.

    by the way – lots of excitement right now bubbling around the blogs and media coverage re the “Mitt-Zine” – a 12-page four color magazine insert which will be in 4.5 million swing state sunday newspapers.

    mittzine.com

  5. Recognizing the expense, @John B, cat is still disappointed that the Mitt-zine won’t be in the Chicago Tribune.
    .
    Mew

  6. The last, desperate act of an ink-stained scoundrel deserves an apology like a disease does for briefly going into remission.

    Dry those tears with your J-School diplomas, you rubes.

  7. Don’t feel bad, Moe. Obama’s Iowa communications director didn’t expect it either, judging by her tweet 5 minutes before the endorsement.

Comments are closed.