The Obama Endorsements Keep Rolling In; 10 Major Newpapers Have Made Their Choice Thus Far With More On The Way...

With a little more than two weeks to go before the November 6th election, major newspapers from around the country are starting to announce their endorsements for this year's presidential race.

The Akron Beacon Journal, the Denver Post, the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Asheville Citizen-Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Seattle Times, The Sacramento Bee, The Arkansas Times , The Cleveland Plain Dealer, and The Salt Lake Tribune have all endorsed President Obama for re-election thus far with more to come.

Here's what some of these prestigious newspapers had to say aboubt their choice:

"What is telling about a presidency is its tilt, its direction, spirit and priorities. Thus, to those who argue the president lacks a plan for a second term: Look at the foundation that has been set. He has used the levers of government to bolster the economy, investing in education, innovation and health care, understanding the essential role of the public sector in competitiveness. Those tasks are not complete. They would continue.

"The president has governed more from the middle than many give him credit. Consider the Republican ideas in health-care reform, or the Race to the Top, or the tax cuts in the stimulus. He has stated his readiness to compromise on long-term deficit reduction. The problem has been Republican resistance to tax increases as part of a realistic and responsible approach.

"That commitment to compromise, or governing, is crucial to addressing other pressing challenges such as illegal immigration and climate change. It has been present in his nominations to the Supreme Court, tapping those who recognize the value of settled law in areas ranging from the Commerce Clause to the rights of women to make choices about their health care." - The Akron Beacon Journel

"A largely intransigent Republican Party shares in the blame, however, particularly because of unwillingness to cede any ground to Obama in the last two years on policies — such as the president's American Jobs Act — that attempt to bolster the economy.

And though there is much in Mitt Romney's résumé to suggest he is a capable problem-solver, the Republican nominee has not presented himself as a leader who will bring his party closer to the center at a time when that is what this country needs.

His comments on the 47 percent of Americans who refuse to "take personal responsibility and care for their lives" were a telling insight into his views and a low point of the campaign.

Obama, on the other hand, has shown throughout his term that he is a steady leader who keeps the interests of a broad array of Americans in mind.
We urge Coloradans to re-elect him to a second term." - The Denver Post

"President Barack Obama has earned four more years.

"He inherited an unholy mess — an economy teetering on the edge of a second Great Depression and two foreign wars top the list of disasters. Slowly, steadily and with his eye fixed firmly on the needs of the country, the president has worked hard every day to improve our collective good. It was President Obama who bailed out the auto industry, salvaging 1.1 million jobs and keeping manufacturing alive in this country. It was President Obama who made the gutsy call to invade a compound in Pakistan, tracking down and killing Osama bin Laden. It was President Obama who finally signed comprehensive health reform so that no American has to fear bankruptcy because of a medical catastrophe. More work remains for a second term."- The Santa Fe New Mexican 

"With Obama, we know what we are getting. He has consistently embraced the concept of community. Obama believes we are not just a bunch of individuals but a nation, and that we must work together to address the challenges we face." - The Asheville Citizen-Times

"It was at what Romney thought was a private Republican gathering that he made his now-famous statement that 47 percent of the American people aren't worth doodley squat. After a video turned up on the Internet, Romney eventually made a sort of weaselly defense — "taken out of context," etc. — but it was so insincere that nobody bought it. He wasn't sorry for what he said; he was sorry he got caught. He's not sorry for shipping American jobs to China as a private financial manipulator either. He's sorry that Obama points it out. While Romney was exporting employment, President Obama's stimulus spending was creating and preserving jobs — as many as 3.6 million, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. A substantial number, though not enough to replace the jobs lost in the economic collapse that began under President George W. Bush, who believed, like Romney, in the efficacy of reducing taxes on the very rich, even if that means raising taxes on everybody else.

"Americans are divided already; Obama at least wants to try to bring them together. The gap would widen under the elitist Romney, and even if he ever felt inclined to cease the class warfare and gender warfare his party wages, the party wouldn't let him. The choice this year is between a level-headed, well-intentioned, middle-of-the-roader and a political adventurer dominated by really nasty reactionaries. An easy choice, we believe." - The Arkansas Times

So far I've found just 5 papers that have endorsed Mitt Romney, all from Republican or right-leaning publications; The Dallas Morning News, Las Vegas Review-Journal,Omaha World-Herald, The Tennessean (Nashville) and the Orlando Sentinel.

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UPDATE - Make that 11 major newspapers to endorse a second term for President Obama. The L.A. Times can be added to the list as well.

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UPDATE - The Charlotte Observer, North Carolina's largest newspaper, endorsed Barack Obama for another term in today's edition.

Raw Story Exclusive: ‘Ellie Light’ regrets damage done to Obama, blasts right-wing ‘conspiracy theorists’

Rawstory.com -

WASHINGTON -- In an interview with Raw Story, prolific Obama supporter and letter-writer "Ellie Light" slammed conservatives claiming the published writings were part of a White House "astroturf" operation, and regretted the "damage" they've done to the president.

The interview was conducted before the Cleveland Plain Dealer revealed that the deep, husky-voiced "woman" publicly calling herself "Ellie Light" was actually a man named Winston Steward. Most initially believed he was a woman, probably due to his mannerisms and tone, including this reporter.

Steward, 51, is a traveling health care worker based in Frazier Park, California. He admitted to being the author of letters published in dozens of newspapers across the country -- sent with fake addresses from a variety of locations -- under the name "Ellie Light."

"The damage has been done," Steward told Raw Story, "with blog posts and YouTube videos. I don't think anything can undo that."

He ripped conservatives for their unsubstantiated allegations about his ostensible affiliations with the White House.

hey are conspiracy theorists, there's no doubt. Apparently I'm a space alien, that's the newest thing on one Web site, so it just goes on and on. The Michelle Malkin people -- they're clowns. We know they're clowns."

Steward's alias, Ellie Light, became the subject of widespread conservative fascination after one letter he wrote in defense of President Obama, first published by Politico's Ben Smith, subsequently appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

The story about his letter's numerous appearances with different addresses was first broken on Friday, January 22 by Sabrina Eaton of The Plain Dealer newspaper before catching the attention of conservative Web sites such as Michelle Malkin's blog, Patterico's Pontifications and the National Review.

Following allegations that he wasn't a real person and merely a ghost-name for an Obama official, Steward posed as a woman and claimed his name was "Ellie Light" in a radio interview on Tuesday, claiming that name was real but admitting he was "wrong" for "giving false address" while submitting the letter to various regional newspapers.

A flurry of conservative bloggers have since suggested -- and outright accused -- Steward of being an Obama administration plant. Many of them, including Michelle Malkin, declared he was part of White House "astroturf" activities to deceptively burnish its credentials.

He told Raw Story he believed the whole issue had been blown far out of proportion.

No evidence has been unearthed linking Steward to the Obama administration or the Democratic Party. He said he is not and has never been a activist for a political advocacy group.

"Affiliated with an organized group? No," he said bluntly. "I've never been affiliated with anyone like that."

Steward, who for a brief period after Obama got elected wrote diaries for the Daily Kos, said he hopes people will take the time to understand the situation rather than jump to conclusions.

"For those who pay attention a little longer, it could end up being good, but for the people who are only going to pay attention for the 'Balloon Boy' period it'll be 'oh, another one of those Obama things'."

He said if he could go back in time, he "probably would have written the letter and told them all I was in the Los Angeles area."

Criticizes Democrats: 'not as loyal' as Republicans

Steward declined to criticize Obama, calling him "the most remarkable elected official," and criticized Democrats and progressives for allegedly wanting instant gratification of their wishes.

"Democrats have abandoned the president that they practically worshiped such a short time ago because he couldn't tend to their needs in the first twelve months of office. And they're behaving like a bunch of babies," he said.

"They need to show that there's a groundswell of support for the president so that the yahoos have nothing to talk about."

Though he accepted that there are genuine critics of Obama on the left, he criticized Democrats for not being as loyal to Obama as Republicans were to former President George W. Bush.

"Think about the Republicans that had to suck it in in 2003 and 2004 when Bush was caught lying over and over and over again," he said. "All the Republicans stood there and said 'the president has his reasons, we trust the president.'"

"And we laughed at them, because they were all liars. But at least they were loyal."

Steward said he will continue writing letters to newspapers in support of Obama and hoped more Democrats will do the same.

(Editor's Note: Article originally confused Winston Steward's last name. Thanks to the multiple readers who noticed the mistake. Raw Story regrets the error, and hopes Eric Arthur Blair's estate will not mind.)