The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which endorsed Barack Obama for president in 2008, has reportedly decided not to endorse any presidential candidate in 2012.
Sources say the paper is not eager to experience the same kind of heat it received after endorsing Republican Governor Scott Walker in the recall election earlier this year:
I asked editorial page editor David Haynes about this and he replied in an email: “I’m writing a column on our decision for the Sunday paper. We may post that early (Friday). As a point of history: The JS did not endorse in the 2000 presidential election, and I remember [editor] Marty Kaiser writing at the time that it was not the first time that a newspaper in Milwaukee had not endorsed. It wasn’t common, but it had happened before.”
I’m told that both U.S. Senate candidates Tammy Baldwin and Tommy Thompson were furious when they heard the no-endorsement news…
Inside the paper, I’m told, there’s the feeling that “we have two tough picks to make and we’re taking a pass,” and the paper is less relevant because of it.
Average polling data currently shows Barack Obama leading challenger Mitt Romney by approximately two points in the race to win Wisconsin’s ten electoral votes. The Midwestern state is the home of Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.