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Subscribe to RSSWith just over two weeks until the Iowa caucuses, GOP contenders are making the final push for votes. NBC's Mike Viqueira reports.
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Despite not spending much time or resources in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, Mitt Romney won the endorsement Saturday of Iowa’s largest newspaper, The Des Moines Register.
“Sobriety, wisdom and judgment ... those are qualities Mitt Romney said he looks for in a leader. Those are qualities Romney himself has demonstrated in his career in business, public service and government,” the newspaper said in an editorial Saturday night, just 17 days before the caucuses. “Those qualities help the former Massachusetts governor stand out as the most qualified Republican candidate competing in the Iowa caucuses.”
The Register, which was publishig its endorsement in Sunday’s paper, says its goal with a caucus endorsement “is to provide a perspective for Iowans beyond what they read in regular news coverage and see in debates.”
Read the full endorsement in the Des Moines Register
The former Massachusetts governor did not win this endorsement last cycle. Rather, the Register endorsed John McCain. McCain, who lost the Iowa caucuses to Mike Huckabee, went on to be the eventual nominee.
“We did not endorse him [Romney] then [2008 caucus], but this is a different field, and he has matured as a candidate,” the editorial board wrote. “Rebuilding the economy is the nation’s top priority, and Romney makes the best case among the Republicans that he could do that.”
The Register’s editorial board has been endorsing candidates since 1988 – and three of the four Republicans -- Bob Dole, George W. Bush, McCain -- it has endorsed over the past 24 years have gone on to be the Republican nominee. Only one, Bush, was elected president.
Romney is trailing Newt Gingrich in the Hawkeye State, polls suggest.
According to the Dec. 4 NBC News-Marist poll among likely caucus goers in Iowa, Gingrich was polling at 28 percent, and Romney and Ron Paul were tied with 19 percent (after reallocating Herman Cain supporters to their second-choice candidate).
Gingrich won the endorsement of New Hampshire’s largest newspaper, the Union Leader, just three weeks ago.
Romney, who has been criticized for his frequent absence in Iowa, was last in the state Friday but it is not known when he will return here.
The Iowa caucus takes place on Jan. 3, and this endorsement likely will raise expectations for Romney's performance there. But some political watchers were unimpressed.
A caucus veteran in the state told NBC News: "This endorsement could not be more meaningless. There is a reason they [the Register] lost their debate this year: Iowans simply do not care."
Related story: South Carolina embraces Romney, but will it vote for him?
Leave a Comment:
IOWA,
Idiots out wandering around.
Yep, let's start with the goobers in Iowa electing our next President, because they represent the BEST of the WORST the GOP has to offer! When they're not checking Pork Belly Futures, these folks are glued to FUX NEWS, and clamouring for the next uber-conservative Super-Jesus savior for our Great Country.
You need an Ark to survive the drool.
Oh, sorry...the term is "Arc". Still need the drool, however...
Well i know this if the people don't wake up we'er going to have the one that is over AMERICA now be up there for another four years. GOD HELP US IF THIS HAPPENS. He'll get to finish what he has started and there want be a DARN thing we can do to stop him. The only thing is if we take the senate and keep congress.
Irene,
Either you're inebriated, or uneducated, which in either case points to your right-leaning don't even-care if-I spell-stuff-right content of your post.
Beat your Bible, and try to communicate with spelling we can understand tomorrow...
The main problem Romney has is that he's so damn boring and uninteresting. Like Bush, he is not curious about anything and genuinely uninterested in people in general. It's like the guy was born without a soul - dull and empty, no depth. He says all the right things, but its mechanical and scripted. The passion he has is for his own advancement. About the only thing he really accomplished was managing the Winter Olympics one time. Other than older, comfortable white folks and fellow Mormons, where does he think the votes are going to come from? We may as well have a robot for President. It's Mitt! Z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-z-zz.
Mitt might have won the newspaper but he didn't win Iowa, Ron Paul did and most people know it. Quite a media game is being played out here.
Here we have a classic example of what the mainstream media is really like. Sure, they toss in some news as it happens so so it looks like they are reporting but when it comes to the big stuff, mainstream media MAKES THE NEWS. PROPAGANDA, and the public is sick of it.
Too scared of Ron Paul? YUP. With the help of the public, Paul would go a long way in getting this country back on it's feet! You should see who endorses Paul and why.
One other thing. Is there an economist in the house??? If so, maybe you would be so kind as to explain this to the rest of us in layman's terms;
What did the Federal Reserve do this past week?
http://www.infowars.com/did-the-fed-quietly-bail-out-a-bank-on-tuesday/
Romney's speech "Flip, Flop, Flippity, Floppity, Flip, Flip, Flop, Flop.... Was there anyone I didn't appeal to with my flip-floppedness?"
Oh wow,a two-bit,cornfed small town hick newspaper giving an endorsement.........that`ll bring in 3 or 4 more voters!
Any newspaper that lends its support to one candidate over another cannot be a credible or reliable source for unbiased news. That or it's all just another MSN headline spin job to get hits.
"msn" get rid of older and newer that appears on either side of comment box
they interfere with doing post on small screens/ come on get it together !
"msn" get rid of older and newer that appears on either side of comment box
they interfere with doing post on small screens/ come on get it together !
"msn" get rid of older and newer that appears on either side of comment box
they interfere with doing post on small screens/ come on get it together !