We're not sure how much newspaper endorsements even matter anymore, but The Sun-Sentinel dropped a bomb this morning by endorsing Mitt Romney. This comes after years of endorsing the Democratic presidential candidate, and despite the fact the paper serves Broward County, the most solidly Democratic big county in the state.
With The Tampa Bay Times endorsing Obama, and the Sentinel's corporate cousin, The Orlando Sentinel endorsing Romney, this now means that Romney has won the endorsement of two out of three of this swing state's biggest newspapers. The Tampa Tribune, the state's fifth largest paper, has also endorsed Romney. The Miami Herald, the fourth largest in Florida, has yet to make an endorsement, as has The Palm Beach Post (number six).
The Sun-Sentinel's endorsement reads pretty similarly to The Orlando Sentinel's, in that despite having some qualms about Romney's social platform, the endorsement trumpeted Romney's supposed economic expertise:
We believe Romney's past performance is a predictor of his future behavior. He's proven himself to be a successful businessman. He rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from scandal and mismanagement. He worked with a Democrat-dominated legislature as governor of Massachusetts to close a $3 billion budget deficit -- without borrowing and raising taxes.Maybe, just maybe, we should mention that both The Sun-Sentinel and The Orlando Sentinel are owned by Tribune Corp. That company came under the control of a consortium of investment firms and Wall Street banks this summer. Not that we're suggesting anything.
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