Citing her “yes we can” and “how we can” attitude, the Daily Pennsylvanian’s editorial board endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential primary.
“A successful champion for change, her experience in the Senate and as first lady gives her a better understanding of how Washington works,” the editorial board wrote Thursday, adding that the New York senator is best able to lead the nation now.
According to UWIRE’s count, the board is the fourth in the nation to back Clinton so far in the Democratic primary season. The overwhelming majority of papers have endorsed Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.: He has received 45 out of the 50 student newspaper endorsements.
“Our endorsement is not a rejection of Obama’s leadership qualities. But choosing the president of the United States is too important a decision to make based on hope alone,” the board wrote. “Obama could one day be a remarkable president.”
Obama is leading Clinton by 142 delegates, according to CBS News. The candidates are competing over Pennsylvania’s 158 pledged delegates to be allotted on a proportional basis according to Tuesday’s primary results.
The Daily Pennsylvanian’s editorial board also endorsed Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., writing that although he has the Republican nomination all but locked up, “we were rooting for him all along.”
“As one of the few Republican candidates to recognize the problem of global warming, understand the promises of stem-cell research and take a principled stand against torture, McCain has often openly defied his Party’s conservative base,” the board wrote. “That independence and willingness to cross party lines is attractive to a generation tired of partisan bickering in the White House and on Capitol Hill.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian published columns by each of the three major presidential candidates in the days before it issued the endorsements.
Clinton hailed the young generation’s compassion and dedication in serving the nation, citing increases in applications for Teach for America, AmeriCorps and the Peace Corps after Sept. 11.
“We stand on the cusp of a new beginning for America. But it won’t be easy. We need a commander-in-chief who is ready on day one to end the war in Iraq. A president ready to steward this economy. A leader who can deliver on the promises - and help renew the promise of America,” Clinton wrote.
McCain said her daughter, Meghan, has taught him that young people are participating in the political process differently than ever before.
“I hear the message of young voters, and I work to address their concerns while remaining true to myself and ideals, or in Meghan’s words, ‘keeping it real,’” McCain wrote in the Daily Pennsylvanian.
Obama used his column to urge voters to “choose the politics of possibility over the politics of the past.”
“In this election, it is time to stand for change. This has been our message since the beginning of this campaign,” he wrote. “It was our message when we were down; it was our message when we were up; and it’s the message that we have carried across Pennsylvania.”
The Daily Pennsylvanian is the award-winning independent student-run newspaper paper for the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League school with an enrollment of nearly 20,000 undergraduate and graduate students. The school is the fourth-oldest in the nation.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is the first student newspaper in the state to endorse primary candidates for the 2008 election.