The Indianapolis Star, Indiana's largest newspaper, has opted not to endorse a candidate for president in an election year that's seen the state become a presidential battleground state for the first time in decades.
The Star said Sunday that it was withholding an endorsement because its eight-member editorial board is evenly divided on whether to support Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. John McCain.
[. . .]
The Star said Obama and McCain carry "great strengths but also significant weaknesses" with them in their bids to become president.
Well, of course, they each have "great strengths" and "tremendous weaknesses." That's why everyone with an opinion and the means to transmit it should speak out, that we might all have the benefit of all the opinions and argue about the election and come to the best decision we can. This is the first time in 44 years the presidential election has mattered here, and the state's largest newspaper is sitting it out?
That's a good reason for not having an even number of editorial board members, I suppose, but if the publisher at the Star is like the publisher of every other newspaper I've known, there still didn't need to be a tie. The rule is that everyone gets one vote, but the publisher's vote counts more than everyone else's. If my publisher wanted to come out in favor of requiring everbody to wear yellow on Wednesdays, then our editorial page would do that. I'd probably ask someone else to write the editorial, though, since green on Fridays is the only stand worth taking.
