It's hard to say how much newspaper endorsements matter in a presidential contest, but there's no doubt that endorsements across the partisan divide draw more attention. It's not surprising when the Washington Post endorses the latest Democrat, but when the Des Moines Register gets behind its first Republican in 40 years, there's a certain shock value to the endorsement.
Not surprisingly, the Republican Party has been happily keeping track of 2008 Obama supporters who have endorsed Mitt Romney in 2012. As of Monday, they counted 28 such endorsements:
The Des Moines Register (Iowa)
The Quad-City Times (Iowa, Illinois)
The Reno Gazette-Journal (Nevada)
The Orlando Sentinel (Florida)
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Florida)
The Naples Daily News (Florida)
Florida Today
Pensacola News Journal (Florida)
The Daily Tribune (Michigan)
The Daily Herald (Chicago, Illinois)
The Houston Chronicle (Texas)
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Texas)
The Tennessean
The Los Angeles Daily News (California)
The Long Beach Press-Telegram (California)
The Reporter (Vacaville, California)
The New York Observer
The Vancouver Columbian (Washington State)
The Billings Gazette (Montana and Wyoming)
The Pasadena Star-News (California)
The Casper Star-Tribune (Wyoming)
The Bluefield Daily Telegraph (West Virginia)
Fitchburg Sentinel & Enterprise (Massachusetts)
The Layfayette Journal and Courier (Indiana)
The Joplin Globe (Missouri)
The Shreveport Times (Louisiana)
The Cape Cod Times (Massachusetts)
Worcester Telegram & Gazette (Massachusetts)
