Politics

A Ray of Hope

Why today was a good day for Barack Obama.

Every day until the election, Slate will offer up one reason to be optimistic for your candidate.

15 days to go:

Today’s Good News for Obama: Although Barack Obama hasn’t been able to regain his national lead over Mitt Romney, he is winning the fight for newspaper endorsements in battleground states. Obama has won a slight majority of these endorsements. But his biggest vote of confidence just came from Ohio, where the Cleveland Plain Dealer praised the president’s leadership and economic policies. The Plain Dealer joins the Denver Post, the Tampa Bay Times, and the Arizona Daily Star in opting for Obama. Each is a major newspaper in a swing state that Democrats are hoping to tip blue. There’s some question as to how effective endorsements are in swaying undecided voters, but they may well be influential when coming from a respected, widely read paper. With a circulation of more than 400,000, the Plain Dealer is the 20th most widely read newspaper in the country—which means its endorsement could make the difference in Ohio’s ever-narrowing race.

See Barack Obama’s earlier rays of hope.

See Mitt Romney’s earlier rays of hope.