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| TAKING SIDES | |
 October 26, 2000  |
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Terence Smith discusses political endorsements with newspaper editors David Hawpe of the Louisville Courier-Journal, Susan Albright of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Nolan Finley, of the Detroit News, and Frank Blethen of the Seattle Times. Watch the background
report in streaming video. Watch the discussion in streaming video.
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TERENCE SMITH: In recent days, dozens of newspapers have endorsed either Vice President Gore or Governor Bush on their editorial pages.
In neighboring Oregon, another battleground state, the Portland Oregonian made a similar close call on the grounds that Bush had the "intellect, character, fortitude and talent to be a better president." However, unlike other Bush supporters, the paper defended Gore, saying "he is not dishonorable or a liar, as Republicans have tried to portray him."
Elsewhere around the country, the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio noted that Governor Bush believes that "government should be the last resort, not the first, when problems must be solved." But the Seattle Post-Intelligencer says "Gore's basic philosophy of active government is fundamentally more sound." A publisher's support has its limits. In 1936, Republican candidate Alf Landon won the great majority of editorial endorsements in the nation's newspapers, but was swamped at the polls by Franklin Roosevelt.
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| Making the choice | ||||||||||||||||||||
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FRANK BLETHEN: Well, we think that the decision needs to be made based on somebody's background and their actual behavior. Gore is basically an incumbent and we looked at issues of integrity, civility, honesty, philosophy of government, and in the northwest, trade and also education. And on those issues, it was overwhelmingly not Gore and time for a change and Bush is promising. TERENCE SMITH: Susan Albright, why Vice President Gore for the Minneapolis Star Tribune?
TERENCE SMITH: Nolan Finley your choice at the Detroit News Governor Bush -- why? NOLAN FINLEY: Well, we think Governor Bush will be a better steward of the economy; we think he is better equipped to manage this surplus. In many ways a surplus is a more difficult challenge for a President than a deficit. There's a temptation to use the surplus to grow the government. We don't think Governor Bush will do that. And, quite frankly, Vice President Gore scares us to death because of his radical environmental agenda. We think that will cost Michigan jobs, particularly in the auto industry. TERENCE SMITH: David Hawpe, Louisville Courier Journal, what was the overriding argument for Vice President Gore?
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| The editorial process | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TERENCE SMITH: Frank
Blethen, as we noticed in the setup, there was division on your editorial
board at your paper as to the choice between the two candidates. Tell
us a little bit about the process. I mean, did you debate it within the
board? How do you do it?
TERENCE SMITH: How democratic, Frank Blethen, is this process, lower case "d" here? In other words, were you, as somebody whose family has controlled the paper for a long time, were you prepared to be outvoted? FRANK BLETHEN: Well, you know, it's as democratic... depends on how strong I feel about it and how strong the editorial page editor feels about it. A lot of issues we get full consensus in a lot of endorsements. The governor's endorsement, for instance, was unanimous consensus with the Democrat Gary Lott. But if the editorial page editor feels strongly enough about something, she might override a consensus. and I will do the same thing, although it doesn't happen that often. TERENCE SMITH: Well, I mean, is the CEO's vote a little more equal than the others? FRANK BLETHEN: It sure is. TERENCE SMITH: I would assume. Susan Albright at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, how do you do it? What's the process there?
TERENCE SMITH: And Susan Albright, does the management have a voice in this? SUSAN ALBRIGHT: Oh, well, certainly. But our publisher really gives a lot of deference to our long-term stewardship, if you will, of the Star Tribune's editorial traditions and philosophy. TERENCE SMITH: Nolan Finley, what's the process in Detroit? Do you poll your board? What's the publisher's role? How does it work?
TERENCE SMITH: Any dissension on your board at all? NOLAN FINLEY: Not on this one. Sometimes that happens but this time we were fairly unanimous. |
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| Consistency vs. predictability | ||||||||||||||||||||
| TERENCE SMITH: David
Hawpe, you mentioned that your paper has endorsed Democrats over the years.
Does that, in your opinion, diminish the impact of an endorsement, partly
the point Susan Albright was making, about consistency versus predictability?
TERENCE SMITH: You endorsed Republicans at a state or local level? DAVID HAWPE: We have often and we did this time. And we really were given down the road by some of our traditional supporters as a result. TERENCE SMITH: Frank Blethen, what was the reaction from your readers since you had supported a Democrat, Michael Dukakis, in the past, now a Republican? What was the reaction?
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| The Nader factor | ||||||||||||||||||||
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TERENCE SMITH: Susan Albright, Ralph Nader is said to be a significant factor in your state. Was it in your decision? SUSAN ALBRIGHT: No, it wasn't in our decision although we have been talking about what we might want to do about the fact that 8 percent of Minnesotans apparently are interested in Nader, and we've recently had several people coming from national organizations through the state all of a sudden because of this interest in Nader, Jesse Jackson was in town this week, Representative NARAL [National Abortion Rights Action League] was in town, the Sierra Club was in town, national leaders coming through. TERENCE SMITH: What do you mean, you've been saying, you've been talking about what you might want to do about it? SUSAN ALBRIGHT: Well, if you notice today the New York Times had an editorial in which they were... it was not an endorsement editorial at all, it was simply another editorial, but it was about the Nader run for the presidency and why they think it was a bad idea for him to run in the first place and to stay in this long when it's clear that it's such a close race that he could have an effect on it. TERENCE SMITH: Right. SUSAN ALBRIGHT: So our board has been talking about Nader in those ways. We were not tempted to endorse him but, in fact, might be tempted to say something about him in regard to possibly hurting Gore's chances. TERENCE SMITH: The impact of a vote, in other words? SUSAN ALBRIGHT: Yes. TERENCE SMITH: Nolan Finley, do endorsements matter anymore?
TERENCE SMITH: And possibly in a close race it will make more of a difference. Thank you very much. I want to thank all four of you. And we appreciate it. |
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In
what may be the closest presidential election in a generation, many
editorial boards were divided before going to press. Sometimes they
exhibited their own gender gap. On Sunday, the Seattle Times
editorial page editor told readers she and her women colleagues on the
editorial board were on the losing side of the endorsement debate. The
paper, which had supported Senator Bill Bradley in the primary, sided
with Governor Bush in the general election. 
Vice
President Gore had some wholehearted backers -- among them, the Minneapolis
Star Tribune, which said he was "prepared to lead in the right
direction." 
TERENCE
SMITH: For more on how and why newspaper editors are taking sides, we
turn to four who have chosen a candidate in the last few days. Louisville
Courier-Journal vice president and editorial director David Hawpe;
Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial page editor Susan Albright;
Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley and Seattle
Times publisher and CEO Frank Blethen, who is in San Francisco this
evening. Welcome to you all. 
SUSAN
ALBRIGHT: This was not a difficult decision at all for us. We feel that
Vice President Gore has a long record of achievement. We do not buy
the rhetoric that he isn't a man of integrity. We think he has much
more depth on the issues than his opponent, and we had no trouble at
all coming out for Gore. In fact, I believe our editorials over the
past months and years led inexorably to this endorsement. 
DAVID
HAWPE: Well, I think experience certainly played the largest part. And
we like Vice President Gore's experience. We are a sort of a New Deal
Democratic paper. Some say our endorsement was fairly predictable since
we have never endorsed a Republican for President of the United States,
but we are a New Deal Democratic paper, and I think Al Gore not only
is where we are on social issues and domestic policy but, in addition,
and in a surprising turn in this election, he, it develops, is much
closer to where we are on defense and foreign policy. It was really
surprising to me to find that Governor Bush was as thin as he is on
defense and especially on foreign policy; and that he is as reluctant
as he seems to be to assert American interests abroad and support democracy
with American power abroad. 
FRANK
BLETHEN: Well, we debated it extensively in two different sessions.
We have purposely created an editorial board that has some pretty strong
differences of opinions and views and on critical subjects like this
and endorsements we don't think we're doing our job if we don't have
some difference of opinion. I think where we're different than a lot
of papers is that not only do we encourage that internally, but then
we encourage the editorial page editor to write columns and to share
that with the readers and give them insights into both sides of the
issues as well as our process. 
SUSAN
ALBRIGHT: Well, we have a group discussion. We talk about things over
time, too. We take a great look at tradition and at our own current
thinking. I think on our staff we don't like to see a surprise endorsement.
Somebody called it predictable. I think predictability isn't a bad thing
in endorsement, because what it means is that you are building your
credibility over time as a consistent voice, and so sometimes we have
disagreements on endorsements and what we do is work it through to the
consensus point where the group can say yes, we've reached a point that's
right for this paper at this time in this race. And that's a little
different from anyone exerting a certain kind of power or from voting.
We don't do either of those. 
NOLAN
FINLEY: We all sit down, including the publisher, and talk about the
candidates. In this case we invited both Governor Bush and Vice President
Gore in for an editorial board. Governor Bush accepted; Vice President
Gore declined. We discussed it, but really this was an easy one for
us. We've been very much an opponent of Al Gore for a number of years,
primarily because of his involvement with the Kyoto Accord and other
things that we think would just be bad for Michigan, bad for the economy.
DAVID
HAWPE: Well, it does until that day comes when we do something different,
then that gives it tremendous impact -- and you know, that day may come.
As I look back over the endorsements our newspaper could have made back
through history, I see at least one great big glaring mistake that we
made. You know, we should have endorsed Teddy Roosevelt but... no, I
don't think that... I don't know that it diminishes the impact, but
it does give us the opportunity to surprise people and have a special
impact when we do depart from what people expect from us, and that happens
frequently in local elections. We, this time, for example, endorsed
Republicans and have been savaged for it by local Democrats and liberals
who were very angry about it. 
FRANK
BLETHEN: Well, the reaction was pretty strong on day one because we
had a lot of people who I think had come to think that we were their
voice, and the only thing that surprised me is how quickly people will
forget the broader context and take one issue they disagree with. But
there's really been two areas. Overwhelmingly, the division on our editorial
board and what we're getting from the public is the choice issue. And
it also, what we see is a huge gender gap -- women that are just simply
unwilling to accept the question mark around Bush and choice and men
who are willing to, who want a change and are willing to accept some
unknowns around that issue. And in our case, since I've been involved
heavily in the national effort to repeal the death tax, we got a lot
of accusations from people who said that we were just doing this because
Bush supports the death tax and what those people are ignoring is in
nine Senate and Congressional races in Washington State we're probably
going to end up endorsing nine out of ten Democrats, including endorsing
against three Republicans who voted for death tax repeal and two Democrats
who voted against it. 
NOLAN
FINLEY: We see it as a guide for our readers. In a state like Michigan
where the race is deadlocked, good number of people are still undecided
it's another tool for them to use. Hopefully we've built up some trust
over the years with our readers, they know where we're coming from,
but this is a tough one for Michigan. We've got a poll out tomorrow
shows the race still deadlocked at 42 points for each candidate. People
here are having a tough time making up their minds. We hope that they'll
find some of what we say about the candidates useful.