The Nashville Banner and The Milwaukee Sentinel endorsed President Reagan for re-election, citing his leadership in domestic issues, but The Daily News in Springfield, Mass., endorsed Walter Mondale.
Saying Reagan and Vice President George Bush 'brought about great progress during the past 45 months,' the afternoon Tennessee newspaper said Thursday Reagan 'is a respected leader who is in tune with the mood of the American people. ... Bush is a highly competent and qualified member of the team.'
Nashville's morning newspaper, The Tennessean, endorsed Mondale Sunday.
The Jersey Journal, a Hudson County, N.J. daily, also endorsed Walter Mondale Thursday.
But the Sentinel said Thursday Reagan 'can look forward to re-election Nov. 6 because the voters can look back in satisfaction on the job he has done the last four years.'
The Sentinel's editorial hit the streets hours after Mondale made an overnight stop in Milwaukee.
The Daily News, in a page-one editorial Thursday, criticized Reagan's foreign and domestic policies and praised Mondale's experience.
'It is time for a change in Washington -- change from a false prosperity financed with record deficits and a change from a foreign policy based on an escalating arms race with an 'evil empire,'' the editorial stated.
The western Massachusetts newspaper criticized Reagan for allowing the national debt to reach $1 trillion for the first time.
'Deficit financing has afforded huge tax cuts for the wealthy, while more millions of Americans have been pushed below the poverty line,' the newspaper said.
'The Mondale-Ferraro ticket stands for fairness, in the tax structure and in the treatment of the disadvantaged, the poor and the elderly,' the newspaper said.
The Jersey Journal said it liked Mondale's 'take-charge style of leadership'vs. perceived confusion of Reagan.
