H-D presidential endorsement

The Herald-Dispatch editorial board met today. We spent a lot of time discussing the presidential endorsement, which comes out Sunday.

First, a bit of history. As best I remember, The Herald-Dispatch has endorsed every Democratic candidate since Jimmy Carter in 1976. Before then, I have no memory. So going by those elections, the HD is 3-5 in agreeing with the American voter.

I can't say here who gets our endorsement, but I can say that the discussion was calm at times and less sedate at others. The thing was that no one was really excited about either candidate.

But we were all over 50, and we have seen too much to be too excited about candidates. None of us sees anyone running as a Messiah who will lead us to the promised land.

My own prediction: Obama will win, and Democrats will control both houses of Congress. In 2010, Republicans will regain control of one house, and the Republicans will win back the White House in 2012. Whether they regain control of both houses of Congress I cannot say, but I seriously doubt it.

This assumes the Republican Party acts with more intelligence and foresight than it has shown since 2004.

This year, the Democratic Party had two strong candidates in the primary. The GOP really had none. For a party that is supposed to be conservative, the GOP had no strong conservative with wide appeal in the primaries. McCain won almost by default, and if he surprises a lot of us and wins the election this year, it will be more a vote against Obama than a vote for McCain. I have talked with several Republicans, and very few are voting for him. They are either voting for Palin or against Obama. Or they are voting for the Republican candidate, whoever it may be. I know of no one who is voting for McCain because he is John McCain.

You can't do well in the long run if that's your base. But it's what the GOP did to itself.