Rappahannock News makes news by endorsing Republican John McCain for president–nine months before general election
By James P. Gannon
Rappahannock County’s only newspaper, breaking from its own “long tradition” and normal political leanings, endorsed Republican John McCain for president today–not only in next week’s Virginia GOP primary, but for the general election in November.
“The Rappahannock News endorses without reservation the election of U.S. Senator John McCain to become our next President and Commander in Chief,” wrote Arthur W. Arundel, publisher, and Peter W. Arundel, president, in the Feb. 7 issue of the weekly paper.
A nearly identical editorial ran in each of the Arundel’s chain of Times Community Newspapers in Virginia, giving McCain an editorial boost in heavily populated Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William Counties, as well as in Fauquier, Culpeper and Clarke counties.
Anita Sherman, Editor of The Rappahannock News, said the decision to endorse McCain had been discussed with editors of the various newspapers, but was the decision of the elder Arundel and his son, Peter. “It was his call and he felt strongly enough about it to do it….as publisher, he has that prerogative,” she said.
The Rappahannock News brands itself as “An Independent Newspaper” but in recent elections has tended to endorse Democrats more often than Republicans. In 2004, it endorsed John Kerry, who ran against President George W. Bush, and supported Democrat Timothy Kaine in his successful bid for Virginia’s governorship in 2005.
“All of his good Democratic friends are going to have a fit!” commented a longtime friend who expressed astonishment over the endorsement.
It is not uncommon for newspapers, in advance of party primaries in their area, to express an editorial preference for one candidate in each party’s primary–as The Des Moines Register did, for example, in endorsing McCain in the GOP contest and Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic contest in advance of Iowa’s January caucuses.
It is unusual, however, for a newspaper to make an editorial endorsement for the November general election as early as February–even before each party settles on its eventual nominee.
The Arundel papers, including the Rappahannock News, acknowledged that it was taking an unusual step. “This newspaper now breaks with its long tradition of separately endorsing candidates in Virginia’s Republican and Democratic primaries to focus this year instead on the best candidate in the November general election,” the paper’s owners wrote.
With the candidates about to descend on Virginia for an intense round of campaigning before next Tuesday’s primaries, the newspaper chain’s endorsement gives front-runner McCain a shot in the arm while delivering an implicit rebuke to the two Democratic contenders, especially Sen. Clinton.
“Among all the candidates of both parties, only Democratic Senator Barack Obama and Republican Senator John McCain have demonstrated broad understanding of the issues and shown the vision to meet very large challenges ahead,” the editorial said. This slight bow in Obama’s direction left Clinton–who was never mentioned in the lengthy piece–outside the circle of those with understanding and vision.
For the most part, the endorsement was a litany of praise for McCain’s leadership qualities, character and experience. “Plainly he is far greater than just another ambitious politician,” the Arundels wrote.
“In this election campaign, during which most candidates have fashioned and then re-fashioned their ‘core’ beliefs to fit the political winds, Senator McCain shows a person of unswerving straight conviction and integrity,” the editorial said. “His values, his beliefs, his personal goals and principles were brutally tempered in war and have since been built and deeply tested in congressional service.”
The editorial expressed approval of McCain’s stances on the war in Iraq, immigration, economic policy, global warming, and general foreign policy, along with McCain’s defense of Virginia’s right-to-work law guaranteeing employees the right to join or not join a union at their workplaces.
-- James P. Gannon
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