Newspapers endorse: Mitt Romney for president

◼ Mitt Romney for president 
     - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review [PA]

It sounds cliched, but it is a truism: America is at a crossroads. It can continue down the path of Leviathan government and an increasing dependence on it, or America can return to the path of limited government and the kind of prosperity-producing independence on which the Founders based this great republic. The choice is yours. Our choice is the latter. And that’s why we enthusiastically endorse Republican Mitt Romney for president of the United States. He’s an exceptionally good and decent man who is a proven leader, administrator and deft politician.

◼ Nevada needs a change now; elect Mitt Romney president 
     - Reno Gazette-Journal [NV]

The Gazette-Journal recommends a vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president of the United States.

It wasn’t an easy decision. A recommendation against an incumbent can’t be taken lightly....

A vote to re-elect Obama promises four more years of the same. In the two debates between the two candidates so far (a third, on foreign affairs, is scheduled for Monday), the president has shown little understanding of how his failures are affecting the nation, and he hasn’t offered any tangible proposals to change course.

◼ Why Mitt? Reality over fantasy 
     - Union-Leader [NH]

The undecided New Hampshire voter has just two weeks to answer this question: Why switch from Barack Obama to Mitt Romney? By now the question is easy to answer if one has been listening to the candidates.

Barack Obama was in Manchester on Thursday. When he came to Veterans Park in 2008, he sold “hope and change.” He was uplifting, inspiring. Last week, that was gone. In its place was the negativity, the deception, the nastiness that Obama once said he wanted to remove from politics.

Obama offered New Hampshire nothing but bitterness and envy. He attacked Romney with a litany of mischaracterizations and deliberate falsehoods.

It was far from the uplifting message Obama delivered four years ago. But four years ago Obama did not have an indefensible record....

What Obama offers America is a fantasy. Sputtering economies are not sparked back to life by government-directed spending on industries hand-chosen by politicians. They are revived by unleashing the energy and creativity of the American people.

The key difference between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama is that Romney understands that crucial economic truth; Barack Obama does not....

Obama had four years — half of them with a Democratic majority in Congress — to try his way. Romney offers a better way, a realistic way, to restore American prosperity. We tried the fantasy. It did not work. Now it is time to stop dreaming and start growing again.

◼ Romney can lead economy forward 
     - Arizona Republic [Phoenix]

We believe the nation's best opportunity to escape the compounding woes of spiraling debt and economic stagnation lies with a president who believes in the free market's capacity to heal its own wounds.

That leader is Romney. The nation's economy now is in desperate need of the kind of jobs-creating animal spirits that President Romney would encourage.

The economy indisputably will benefit, perhaps significantly, from a flatter, fairer system of taxation along the lines proposed by Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan.

It will benefit, too, from a regulatory environment that does not smother small businesses with punitive, anti-competitive, hoop-jumping requirements that favor their bigger competitors. We expect a Romney administration to foster that kind of growth-oriented, business-friendly environment.

But, more to the point, we expect better job growth in a Romney economy mostly because Mitt Romney does not fear or dislike a free-wheeling, growing, free-market economy.

We cannot say the same of President Obama.

◼ Mitt Romney: new leadership for more economic growth 
     - Star-Telegram [Fort Worth, TX]

Given the final two minutes to speak during Tuesday's second presidential debate, President Barack Obama quickly spotlighted what he said was the key distinction between his re-election candidacy and the campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"There's a fundamentally different vision about how we move our country forward," Obama said.

He's right, and "fundamentally different" is what the nation needs. For that reason, Romney should be elected president on Nov. 6....

Romney has laid out a consistent theme focused on encouraging business innovation and growth, reducing government spending and its economic footprint and educating and retraining people to take new jobs.

That theme is a winner, and Congress will be receptive when Romney brings it.

◼ An Open Letter to Obama Voters 
     - Oregon Magazine

Recently, my wife and I attended an outdoor festival in central Virginia. Although the event was not political, there were people from both the Obama and Romney camps handing out campaign stickers and other items. I suspect that if a poll were taken, liberals out-numbered conservatives by about two-to-one.

That’s why I was so taken aback. Although we saw dozens of people wearing Romney stickers, we only saw one man wearing an Obama sticker.

We walked up to a fellow with a gray pony tail, John Lennon glasses and Birkenstocks. He was wearing a Romney sticker.

“Mind if I ask why you’re voting for Mitt Romney?” I asked. “I assume you are.”

His reply – and these were his words, not mine – was short and to the point: “Because I refuse to be that stupid twice.”

Changing one’s mind doesn’t always reveal a tendency toward indecision. Sometimes, changing one’s mind reveals a tendency toward wisdom.

◼ Mitt Romney for president
     - Tampa Tribune

Mitt Romney is the man who can lead the nation out of its lingering economic doldrums and restore faith in the United States.

A successful executive in the public and private sector, Romney is a committed capitalist who understands that the nation's prosperity is driven by free enterprise, not government....

The stimulus, however flawed, was nothing compared to what would follow. As Romney pointed out to devastating effect in the opening debate, with the economy still gasping and Americans desperate for work, Obama turned his attention to a monstrous health care plan full of hidden taxes and government commands.

The result outraged citizens, terrified business owners and caused an even harsher partisan divide in Washington.

The president then bypassed a chance to move to the middle and regain bipartisan support when he was presented with the Bowles-Simpson recommendations. After asking the panel to develop a workable deficit-reduction plan, he ignored its tough proposals, which included both budget cuts and tax increases.

Instead, he engaged in histrionic spending showdowns with an obdurate Congress. Now the nation faces a "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts. If compromise is not reached before the end-of-the-year deadline, the nation's military defense could be compromised and the economy could nosedive. So much for leadership.

Romney's record as a determined, detail-oriented leader who demands results strongly suggests he would find a workable middle ground in such conflicts.

◼ Romney for president 
     - Houston

The Chronicle's backing of Barack Obama in 2008 broke a 44-year string of endorsing Republican candidates for president. Like so many others, we were captivated by the Illinois senator's soaring rhetoric and energized by his promise to move American politics beyond partisan gridlock and into an era of hope and change.

It hasn't happened. Four years later, President Obama's deeds have failed to match his words, much less his specific vows to cut the national debt by half and bring the nation's unemployment rate to 6 percent. As Texans, it is a particular vexation that this president's attitude toward the interests of our state has occasionally bordered on contempt, particularly in decisions relating to the NASA budget and the energy sector. The hurtful symbol of this attitude of insensitivity to Texans' feelings was the administration's choice to deny Space City's bid to become home to one of the retired space shuttles.

We do not believe four more years on the same plodding course toward economic recovery is the best path forward for Texas or the nation. And so we endorse the Republican team, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, in the belief that they can do better by Texas and the nation.

◼ For president 
     - Columbus Dispatch [OH]

Obama has failed. That is why Mitt Romney is the preferred choice for president. Romney’s adult life has been spent turning around troubled private and public institutions. These turnarounds include scores of companies acquired and restructured by Bain Capital, the investment firm he founded in 1984. Not all were successes, but that is because to a significant degree, many of the companies Bain took on were high-risk. In 1999, he was asked to take over the scandal-plagued and fiscally mismanaged 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. He quickly streamlined its management, fixed its finances and guaranteed its security, turning it into a success. As governor of Massachusetts, he made tough decisions to lead the state out of a budget deficit, and he did so in a state dominated by Democrats.

As a career businessman and former governor, Romney brings a wealth of executive experience in the private sector and the public sector that dwarfs that of Obama. From working both sides of the government/private-sector equation, he understands how that relationship can aid or impede prosperity. His election would be an immediate signal to the private sector that someone who knows what he is doing is managing the nation’s economic policy. The effect on business confidence would be dramatic and immediate, and business confidence is the vital ingredient needed to spur investment and hiring, the two things that the United States so desperately needs.

In 2008, Americans made a leap of faith when they elevated the inexperienced Obama to the White House. That faith was not rewarded. This time, voters should place their hopes for change in experience, by electing Romney.

◼ Newspaper endorsements. Should you care? - Jazz Shaw/Hot Air
◼ A tally of newspaper endorsements for president - Riehl World View