Iowa's main paper e ndorses Mitt Romney
US: Mitt Romney earned the White House endorsement Saturday of
battleground Iowa's biggest newspaper, the Des Moines Register, which
cited the Republican's "fresh economic vision" for America.
It was a blow for President Barack Obama, whom the influential
publication backed four years ago. The Romney endorsement was the
paper's first of a Republican candidate since it supported Richard Nixon
in 1972.
With just 10 days before Americans head to the polls on November 6,
the presidential race is heading for a spectacular, neck-and-neck
finale, and most experts and observers agree that the race will come
down to which candidate can win over more undecided and independent
voters in swing states like Iowa. The Register's editorial board said it
had a vigorous debate over the endorsement discussing who could best
pull the economy out of the doldrums, create more jobs, balance the
budget and forge compromises in Congress.
"When the question is framed in those terms, Mitt Romney emerges the
stronger candidate," it said, citing the former Massachusetts governor's
business record and his ability to govern as a Republican in a liberal
state.
"Romney has made rebuilding the economy his No. 1 campaign priority
-- and rightly so," it said. In praising Romney's economic acumen, and
his "faith in the private sector to fuel a more robust economic
recovery," it also faulted what it views as the president's missteps.
Obama, it said, made "the right call" with his multi-billion-dollar
government stimulus bill that put cash into the pockets of consumers and
invested in infrastructure projects .
But "the president's best efforts to resuscitate the stumbling
economy have fallen short," the paper said. "Nothing indicates it would
change with a second term in the White House." Voters, the paper said,
"should give Mitt Romney a chance to correct the nation's fiscal course
and to implode the partisan gridlock that has shackled Washington and
the rest of America - with the understanding that he would face the same
assessment in four years if he does not succeed." The editorial board
spoke with Obama by telephone earlier this week. The conversation was
off the record, but after an article was published questioning why such
a discussion would be private, the White House released the transcript.
AFP |