Clinton Gets Endorsements From Top Iowa, New Hampshire, Boston Papers As Primary Season Kicks Off

Editors Say Sanders’ Policies Are Unachievable, Have ‘No Chance Of Being Approved’ By Congress

Hillary Clinton walked away with endorsements from three highly influential local papers this weekend, a week before the nation’s first primary and a day before Monday’s Democratic forum. The former Senator and Secretary of State, who is losing to Bernie Sanders in some recent state polls and winning in others, scored the backing of The Des Moines Register, The Boston Globe, and the Concord Monitor. All three papers are the top in their markets, and could influence voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary. The Globe has a strong impact on the New Hampshire market, with a reported 20,000 New Hampshire subscribers.

Clinton also this weekend received an endorsement from another Iowa paper, the Sioux City Journal. 

Iowa, the first-in-the-nation primary, is February 1. New Hampshire follows shortly thereafter, February 9. 

“Hillary Clinton has needed knowledge, experience,” The Des Moines Register’s editorial board wrote, noting that the former Secretary of State “has demonstrated that she is a thoughtful, hardworking public servant who has earned the respect of leaders at home and abroad. She stands ready to take on the most demanding job in the world.”

The paper noted whomever takes the Oval Office next year will face challenges of working with Congress domestically on “immigration, health care, increased threats to national security, the disappearing middle class, the growing deficit, Social Security solvency, gun control, renewable energy, sentencing reform.” Internationally, challenges include “ISIS and other terrorists, climate change, the containment of nuclear threats posed in North Korea and Iran, the Russian incursions in Ukraine and foreign trade.”

They conclude, “Democrats have one outstanding candidate deserving of their support: Hillary Clinton. No other candidate can match the depth or breadth of her knowledge and experience.”

Calling Bernie Sanders “an honorable and formidable campaigner,” and “a man of courage and principle,” the Des Moines Register observed that Sanders “admits that virtually all of his plans for reform have no chance of being approved by a Congress that bears any resemblance to the current crop of federal lawmakers.”

The Boston Globe put it simply in its title: “Hillary Clinton deserves Democratic nomination,” and notes that although “tumultuous…the Barack Obama years have proved transformative — and the priority for Democratic voters should be to protect, consolidate, and extend those gains.”

The Globe says Clinton is “more seasoned, more grounded, and more forward-looking than in 2008,” and says “the nation has new challenges, which require a different kind of leader — someone who can keep what Obama got right, while also fixing his failures, especially on gun control and immigration reform. That will require a focus and toughness that Obama sometimes lacked.”

The paper devotes three entire paragraphs to gun control, concluding that “Clinton is simply more credible on what for too many Americans is a life-and-death issue,” because “Sanders presents himself as an avowed foe of big business, but his vote to protect firearms corporations from legal liability tells a different story.”

Ultimately, the Globe decides “the best reason to support Clinton isn’t the weaknesses of her opponents; it’s her demonstrated strengths and experience. Even her most dyed-in-the-wool opponents ought to take a second look at her. While Sanders has made an important contribution to the Democratic primary campaign, it’s Clinton who would make a better president.”

Lastly, from New Hampshire, the Concord Monitor decides “Clinton is Democrats’ best choice.”

“Only one Democratic candidate for president is truly qualified to hold the job: Hillary Clinton,” labeling Sanders’ promises unachievable.

The paper’s editors believe under a President Clinton, “the poisonous partisanship that’s paralyzed Washington will be diminished rather than increased. Why? During her eight years as a senator from New York, she proved her ability to find common ground with Republicans, accords that allowed needed legislation to advance.”

“No contender’s resume can come within miles of matching Clinton’s. She’s ready to take up the nation’s top job on day one and her knowledge of domestic issues and foreign policy is encyclopedic.”

They call her “tough as nails when she needs to be,” but also “funny and without the arrogance displayed by so many high-level politicians.”

“The plans Clinton has put forward – whether on foreign policy, making college more affordable, addressing climate change or increasing access to health care – display her knowledge of the issues. They are not pie-in-the sky, but achievable. Her health plan, for example, builds on the success of Obamacare,” the editors state.

“By contrast, Sanders’s health plan, such as it is, was described by Vox founder and health care analyst Ezra Klein as offering voters ‘puppies and rainbows.’ Virtually none of what he has pledged to do is achievable.”

 

This article has been updated with video. 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license