Four years ago the Chicago Sun-Times endorsed US President George W. Bush for president. On Sunday, it became one of a growing number of US newspapers to admit they had got it wrong.
At least 37 newspapers which backed Bush in 2000 have switched sides to Senator John Kerry.
A Sun-Times editorial listed a number of reasons for withdrawing its support from Bush. The administration, it said, had been "willfully and woefully unprepared to face" the insurgency in Iraq.
The Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were "a costly misstep in a time of war" and the paper was concerned by the secrecy of Bush's "subordinates such as Dick Cheney and John Ashcroft."
Kerry, the paper said, ac-knowledged that the "United States is a world leader, not a rogue state."
Others to have switched to the Democrats include the Los Angeles Daily News, the Memphis Com-mercial Appeal and Bush's hometown newspaper, the Lone Star Iconoclast in Crawford, Texas.
For the Commercial Appeal in Tennessee, it is the first time the paper has backed a Democrat since former president Lyndon Johnson, 40 years ago.
So far 200 readers have canceled their subscriptions.
"The letters page was pretty scorching this morning, but we feel we can sleep at night," editor Chris Peck said.
"We just felt that the whole situation in Iraq has led to a really disturbing relationship between the US and other countries. [Bush] has also created a polarized environment in this country and we feel we have to find some common ground," he said.
According to the trade magazine Editor & Publisher, Kerry has been endorsed in the opinion pages of 142 US newspapers, with 123 backing Bush. The papers backing Kerry have sales of 17.5 million, compared with 12.5 million for Bush.
Republicans are likely to use the data as evidence of alleged liberal bias of the media. Editor & Publisher responded by saying this was a misperception.
"Surveys in the past have shown that the majority, in fact, back Republicans," the magazine's Web site said on Wednesday.
Kerry is backed by titles including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, the Detroit Free Press and the Miami Herald. Bush has the support of the Chicago Tribune, Rupert Murdoch's New York Post, the Dallas Morning News and the Washington Times.
But the most significant factor is the newspapers switching sides. Only five papers which supported vice president Al Gore in 2000 have realigned themselves behind Bush, including the Denver Post, prompting 700 mostly critical letters from readers.
In the battleground state of Florida, Kerry has been endorsed by all the main titles. The Orlando Sentinel, which has backed every Republican candidate since former president Richard Nixon in 1968, said: "This president has utterly failed to fulfil our expectations."
Its endorsement drew a mixed response. Messages on the newspaper's Web site included: "Thank God that Bush is on his way out," and "Higher taxes, France making US international policies, Islamic terrorists with reps on the UN Security Council, waiting 10 months to a year to see a doctor, 10 million dead babies, great Demo legacy awaits."
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