OpEdNews - Page 5 of Article: Endorsements 7: NM Sun News, Des Moines, Anchorage,Charlotte, Asheville, Concord, Macon, Hartford, Milwaukee

NM, Santa Fe New Mexican

Owing to the eight-year orgy of excesses by the White House, Obama has the advantage of running not just against the Arizona senator, but also against the man McCain might have beaten eight years ago in a fair fight: In George W. Bush, McCain campaigns with an albatross 'round his neck. For having allied himself so closely with a corrupt and inept administration, McCain is in the unenviable position of a Herbert Hoover, his Harding and Coolidge being Bush and Cheney.

He has flailed mightily in his effort to grasp the mantle of change -- but it belongs to Obama, whose early courage in calling for something like a New Deal in the face of a status-quo political culture is paying what appear to be dividends of the highest order.

His is an American story for our times: Raised in often-rough times as one of a fast-rising racial minority, Obama -- on sheer merit and hard work --led his class at Harvard Law. That's a ticket to great wealth -- but he forsook it for a career organizing the poor communities in the bleakest parts of Chicago. Where law was part of that career, it lay in teaching.

As an Illinois legislator and as a U.S. senator, he honed his persuasive skills and oratorical abilities -- and has become the voice of hope and idealism that has gone largely muffled for four decades and more....

New Mexico is being called a swing state in this election: Its five electoral votes are a drop in the bucket of 270 needed to win, but for all we know, the election might be that close. Four years ago, our state's voters somehow saw four more years of Bush/Cheney as preferable to a presidency responsive to working Americans. We and the rest of the country are paying the price -- economically and spiritually.

When Obama late last month urged Northern New Mexicans to make their predominantly Democratic voter-registration count, it was an eloquent call for a strong turnout. This week, early voting begins in our state. You have a chance to make a difference in the direction our country goes. We urge a vote for Barack Obama.

NEW MEXICO SUN NEWS, Santa Fe FRONT COVER OBAMA PHOTO: "OBAMA WINS!" the first in the US to do its endorsement in that manner

NC Asheville's Citizen Times

Nation clearly needs change; Obama is better-suited...Historians may one day look back and say this election was a turning point, the time when America sealed its fate as a nation in decline or when democracy and capitalism prevailed and the nation reinvented itself.

The nominees - Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona - offer voters very different approaches to leadership and to solving the problems that face the country.

Those who know him say Obama is a disciplined, deliberative person who has a distaste for theatrics and who remains unruffled under pressure.

By contrast, McCain's temper is well documented, as is his propensity to alienate even fellow Republicans by his aggressive and sometimes profane style of confrontation during disagreements.

Obama's tax proposals are more favorable to the beleaguered middle class, his energy policies more likely to result in job creation and eventual energy independence and his plan to address the health care crisis more likely to result in a healthier nation. We believe his temperament and approach to issues represent the nation's best hope for addressing the gargantuan challenges that await the next president.

McCain, a brave warrior and a dedicated, lifelong public servant, has surrounded himself with advisers who fail to recognize the urgency to make fundamental policy changes, instead harkening back to failed tax and energy strategies. In a dangerous world increasingly bound together by a global economy, McCain's choice for vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, feisty as she is, does not have the requisite exposure to foreign affairs to take the reins of government should McCain become incapacitated or die in office.

By contrast, Obama's proposals represent a clearer-eyed recognition of the crises that face America and the changes that must be made if we are toreverse an unsustainable course. His choice for vice president, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a 26-year veteran in the Senate who chairs the Foreign Relations Committee, clearly has the credentials to be president should the need arise.

America can't afford to muddle through another four years. We are near thetipping point in too many areas vital to our future as a nation. We need the steadiness, the sound judgment and the approach to problem-solving that Barack Obama and Joe Biden would bring.

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