Annapolis Capital Punishment

Capital Editor Tom Marquardt recently wrote that our local newspaper will not endorse a presidential candidate because former publisher Phil Merrill, a Washington insider, is not around to guide them through this process. Oh yeah?
I wonder why anyone cares who a newspaper endorses. As a journalistic blogger, I have yet to endorse anyone, and may never endorse anyone, but the apparent ironies in The Capital confound me. If we are supposed to look to The Capital for an endorsement, then we assume you do it after reading other media and deliberating, because you follow this closely. Newspapers all over the country make endorsements so do we expect the average editor in Detroit or Austin to be operating in "Washington circles" or do they rely on their owner or publisher to tell them who to endorse? What if they don't have a PM in the boardroom?
I don't regularly run in Washington circles either but I can figure out about candidates by sorting through all the other media and paying attention to their actions and voting records. What you are saying is that you always relied on PM and that you cannot figure this out for yourselves or through all other media? And therefore you are saying that the publisher ran the show and that the paper reflected the views of one man--a wealthy and powerful Washington insider and because he is no longer around, your board cannot come up with an endorsement. By saying one has to run in Washington circles, you are negating the media, are you not? If you cannot make an endorsement without your PM as insider, the next logical question is how can we the people figure it out? However, the big issue remains, why should anyone care who The Capital endorses anyhow? And what is your record on endorsements? Do you have an effect? Should we as citizens just let Washington insiders vote since we cannot figure this thing out?

Finally, I'm inclined NOT to vote for anyone Phil Merrill would have endorsed simply because he was a Republican operative, friendly with Dick Cheney and tied into the Washington establishment. I can see from your comments that you feel that made him qualified to make an endorsement, but that you are not. www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/02_10-44/OPN